This is probably the nicest photoshopped time-lapsed I ever watched. I think this truck will be a very fun to watch to put together and looks like a great concept. Never knew any concept with that would look good on that truck, but you pulled it off my friend. Very well done!
Hey, I own an 07 FJ Cruiser. There's one thing you'll want to do if you will off road it hard. Be sure and weld some more support where the engine mount is attached to the frame. FJs and Tacomas are known for having the engine mount itself punch into the frame when driven hard. Google it. It happened to mine and I had to weld a support plate on it. The engine was actually sitting in the bay at a slant, ha
One thing you should do is build foldable steel bars that go in front of the windows (windshield at least) and work as a latching point for stuff on the roof. Or as a minigun mount...
If you're not using a Jeep, be sure to recess the roof light bar back at least 8 inches to a foot. If you put it too far forward/near the edge of the top of the windshield, you can get hood blindness from the light shining on the hood at night. It's not super important if the truck is flat black, but it's especially bad in snow, and since you're in the north west, you will see snow. Just a heads up. If you feel like it, try some positioning tests to make sure a shadow is cast on the hood. Trust me you'll hate hood blindness.
Hey Chris - next Time you photoshop something and make something that gets repeated a lot like your rivets, make the layer a smart object by richtclicking the layer in the righthandside panel. You can double klick that layer and work on it separately in a temporary file. It will save you the hassle of repositioning everything! Looking forward to your build!
One of the biggest things your gonna wanna watch for when line-x'ing an entire vehicle and with the build a full steel off-road bumper is weight of your vehicle, and the abuse your drivetrain can take from the weight, I would definitely look into maybe working on the transmission and if you do lift it, I would highly recommend new gearing front and back to compensate for the bigger mud tires and for the added weight of the vehicle, and I know my comment will most definitely get lost in the comment section but, I pretty much live and breath off-roading, from prerunners to over landing vehicles, so if you have any questions I would be more than happy to point you in the right direction! I can't wait for this build!!!!
Bought a "spray at home" bedliner kit for my buddies Grand Cherokee budget build. Color matched the red and sprayed in his barn. Turned out great and extremely useful!
love the fact that you are building a off road vehicle. I've seen a couple of vehicles that have been out in trails and have lynx and they say it adds a lot of weight to it
If you have to go pick up the FJ Cruiser from Washington, you should stop by or meet up with More Skids, another UA-camr who loves building cars. Quentyn and DJ are really nice guys!
Chris, congrats on the purchase! I'd suggest against putting any bedliner material in lieu of paint, though. I've seen it used a lot in the offroad world and it always looks like poop (scratches, flaking off, fading, inconsistent thicknesses, etc...). I'm sure this rig will come out cool and it's really difficult to do a bedliner'd body that looks good. Whatever you decide, best of luck and I look forward to the build!
This is really exciting. Congrats on the auction win. My biggest piece of advice for you for now is to leave the suspension lift and tires for the very last. You are going to want to know what the truck weighs at all corners before you decide on springs, and you can fairly easily have custom wound progressive rate coil springs made for you. With all the camping equipment, winch bumper, and all the exterior steel plating you want to add, the weight would sag a suspension built for a standard weight FJ. Best of luck and watch some videos about bullet penetration. I suggest carbon steel like AR500 so you can make it as thin and light as possible. If you make it light enough you probably won't even have to reinforce the door hinges. You can even see videos about Line-X coated AR500 steel being shot at to show reduced spalling.
Be aware Chris, armor plate is generally AR500 steel which is quite heavy, expensive and very difficult to form. You'll have to heat it a lot but doing so can ruin the heat treatment which will ruin the bullet resistant-ness. To actually protect against things like 12ga/smaller rifle rounds you're gonna need quite thick plate too. Even then, AR500 will dent pretty easily. Just some things to think of, if you choose to protect against only handgun rounds you can get away with thinner steel and it won't mark up quite as bad (especially if you just use lead-only rounds). The line-X might even survive (maybe). Neat project though, I'm curious to see where you take it. Last thing, go look up Demolition Ranch's testing of AR500, that will probably give you an idea of what you can and cannot do with various calibers.
rather than the bullet proof panels (which are kind of cool), what about an exo cage? It has realistic uses for trail driving and still gives that zombie survival look.
You obviously have only had experience with 2007 and up Jeeps , i have owned a 87 XJ a 95 YJ and a 2003 TJ . All 3 had the same bullet proof inline 6 , and the 87 ran for over 900,000 km before the Peugot BA10 died and the engine was put in a CJ 5 that went another 165,000 before i lost track of it . With the independent suspension on the FJ Cruiser limiting wheel travel there are a million places where all 4 wheels of the Jeep would be on the ground , while the FJ would be crossed up with only 2 wheels on the ground . The real Hummer has the only independent suspension system that can outperform the the solid axle jeep that was designed at the same time as the hummer and first used on the first XJ . People can argue and say that the FJ Cruiser is a better road going vehicle , but the last time Toyota made a competition for the Jeep it was called the FJ40 , not the FJ Cruiser .
I weren't bitchin , I like B is for build and wasn't talking to Chris . I was just pointing out where the Toyota fanboys were dead wrong . I didn't start this comment thread , i just joined in when i saw the stupid remarks about Jeep reliability .
For the suspension , Get a hold of ICON Vehicle Dynamics ......... They build some of the best suspension parts for Toyota's ... Unless you want to put a Solid front axle under it , then get a hold of Trail Gear... They will have everything for that as well ...... If you want to get serious , get a set of Bead lock wheels ... They will let you drop the air pressure in the tires for better traction off road ... You can run 15 psi safely with out bead locks , but any lower and you will unseat the bead of the tires .... ( down to 5 psi if you have bead locks )
I've never been so ready for a build this is by far the best build at first I didn't like the idea but after seeing the render I can't wait best of luck anywhere I can help contribute money to the build or the best way to do it is just buying stuff from the website but I kinda already have everything I like from the website unless you make a shirt for this build best of luck man can't wait make it quick
Sleeping in the back would be fun, but fair warning, the back seats don't fold flat. There is a 4 inch rise halfway through the floor that would suck to sleep on.
Well, I like the plan. On the armor though, if you use normal steel many bullets will go through it. If you want it to stop a bullet you will need to buy real armor. That will add some cost to the build and be a bit heavy. For the lift head over to Toytec, their stuff is solid. If you want to learn more about good setups for these kinds of vehicles do some research on forums like toyota-4runner. They have an FJ section and much of the 4th gen 4runner stuff is the same. Please save yourself some heartache and research what works. We see too many guys doing things like a cheap spacer lift and wondering why their vehicle drives like crap now... Welcome to the world of 4x4s.
The thin metal plate that goes in a standard second chance vest is to protect against sharp objects like knives. Not to provide ballistic protection. Those plates are ceramic and much larger. You would need a plate carrier for ceramic plates or a large iotv or otv with Kevlar. Kevlar is what gives standard vests their ballistic protection.
I own an O7 FJ and love it. These are great vehicles. I am interested in you "armor" plating you are going to do. Be sure and keep templates of the plates in case you can sell them for others interested in doing the same modification. Are you going to do anything about the windows? Subscribed to see the progress. Good luck on the project!!
I go camping in my FJ cruiser often. Put your storage on the roof and get a full sized futon (I got one on amazon), lay the back seats down and throw the futon in there. Can't recommend it enough!
Iain Davidson body lifts will only give wheel clearance. If he wants to get more height to climb over stuff and do actual off-roading he's gunna need a suspension lift
I know that, as I have suspension lift on my truck, however in some cases body lift is a cheaper alternative at first. additionally as the wheels get bigger, differentials may need to change as the ratio may not be able to cope.
Hey chris, i know alot more than the average joe about 4x4's. First off with fj's you need front diff lockers and a 2 inch lift, You can get about 3 inches if you do a 1 inch spring lift and 2 inch spacer lift. You need a snorkel(for water crossing and is good for airflow). DO NOT BUY CHEAP TIRES, get some nice cooper st max's, or bfg/maxxis mud tires, if you cheap out on tires and dont keep the car then its ok. There are laws in some countries about the tread of the tire sticking out of the guards and then not being road legal so thats why people make extended guards. If you are adding weight to the car by adding steel then you need heavy duty springs. changing the springs on a fj is not hard and would make a good video. If you do go 3 inches you might need new brake lines as the springs can extend too far and put stress on the lines under full flex. You need different off set rims if you want to go wider tires.
Cool build but pretty sure the line-x will be real heavy, along with the steel bumpers and other parts. Assuming the engine will be stock [3.1L V6 I think], it may need some more power to move it.
I know you want it to be bullet "resistant" but here's some food for thought. I wear an AR500 bullet proof vest for work every day. It has a 10" x 12" steel plate in the front and back that will STOP a 30.06. Each plate weighs 9.8lbs a piece. You're looking at adding over 1,000 lbs of armor to the truck.
Yes! Awesome buy! I have a built up fj, plenty of support out there, hit me up if you need advice on suspension or electrics, made some videos on shock rebuilds for the fj, also have done a large amount of wiring including integrating light bars into the Oem loom and oem relays..
Most of the budget for this FJ SHOULD go towards suspension, chassis and maybe even new axles. The front end you shopped onto your FJ actually had beefy axles on it. Everyone I know personally that gas tried to wheel a FJ has snapped stock control arms etc on the trail.
If you manage to build it even 70% like this photoshop sketch then it will be awesome. I think that the FJ is a car that really deserves a two-tone paint scheme so maybe keep the main body panels besides roof bumpers and wheel arches some other color than black. Military Humvee style satin sand beige or maybe even satin white would give a good contrast.
Hey Chris, was wondering if your going to do a custom back bumper as well? Also for your lighting I would recommend some flood lights for the back and sides as well. And if you do plan on off roading I suggest that you look into bead lock wheels. Can't wait to see the next video and I hope to see you driving around town as well!
You should reach out to Tab and Slot, I think they have jeep bumper kits but they also have weld tables and can do a custom laser cut design too and I bet dave would totally love what you are doing and want to get involved!
My buddy sprayed his EK Civic coupe with Rhino Lining and he actually gets a lot of complements. I'm sure that there'll be a little difference between an FJ Cruiser and a Civic but his car actually looks really good with it. It's different.
I'm not sure if you have armored this yet, but you can buy uncoated AR500 plates for targets fairly cheap. they dont weigh too much and they stop an awfull lot of bullets. some 308 and 3006 loads, some 5.56 loads, pretty much all hand gun, shotgun and large diameter calibers due to them going slower.
Hey congrats on getting your FJ! I got mine in 07. Its aTrail team murdered out, (black roof too). You'll love it. I take mine out and wheel a far about.
A late friend of mine had a badass FJ Cruiser, 35 inch Toyo Open Country MTs, rock rails that went over the fenders and attached to the upgraded bumpers, a winch on the front, recovery points all over it, etc. I wish I could post a picture of it here, I'll try to send it to you on Facebook, I think he'd like it if you would use some similar parts on yours.
Nice expensive 4runner/Tacoma, same chassis and same drive train. they even use the same skid plate. I imagine toytec will become your home for aftermarket parts that are basically factory. Have fun building it!
Riveting the steel panels onto the door sounds like trouble. Mud/dirt will get between the two panels and rot em out from in between, at least that'd be my concern,
he said he would probably use lotus style adhesive between the plating and the doors. i think the rivets are more just for aesthetics more than anything
0xsergy it's perfectly fine if you zinc and seal protect around the rivets and edges. There's plenty of cars driving round with fenders for decades that are still fine.
Just so you know, based on the density of steel "armor plate", you're looking at (at least) an extra 10 pounds of weight on your vehicle for every square foot you add (for 1/4 inch plate). I don't want to sound like a pessimist, but I don't think bending the plate to match the contour of the panels is going to be possible, 1/4 inch plate is too stiff for that and it would require some serious equipment if it even is possible. I am really looking forward to this build though and wish you the best!
You can't spray it because it takes special equipment. Can't wait to see you do the rest of it though! "Unlike other spray-on or drop-in bedliners, a LINE-X® treatment is professionally applied at high pressure and high temperatures, bonding instantly and permanently to your truck. Made from a two-part polyurethane elastomer system, LINE-X uses equal parts of an "A" component, or hardener, and a "B" component, or resin. Using special equipment, the two liquids are combined right outside the tip of the spray gun. When the two parts are combined properly, the result is a polyurethane elastomer with tough, durable, protective properties. The LINE-X dries in just 3 to 5 seconds, preventing runs or pooling that can occur with a cold, low pressure spray-on product."
I love the concept of the armor plating, it reminds me of the Mad max MCM series. I'm definitely going to do an apocalypse theme build myself at some point, I'm also excited to see how the FJ turns out.
you can buy like cans of bed liner and use paint rollers to bed line it like that. ive done it with a spray paint can on a bumper and it turned out pretty good
congrats man, I love the FJ cruiser platform and love my own FJ more than i would like to admit, so congrats! However they are very difficult to work on so best of luck to you!
I know it's not bullet proof, but consider some matte black powdercoated diamond plate. Portland powdercoating is really reasonable. We get anymore storms like this one and you can get by in a survival smart car.
Look up monstaliner for a DIY liner, I used it on my jeep hardtop and it works pretty good, probably not as good as linex though. They do sell spray guns for it though so you can apply it like linex.
Id ditch the bullet proof. Itll most likely end up adding more weight than you want. Then you need to look into regearing the diff's to save the trans. The bumpers will be enough weight to begin with plus the oversized tires. Maybe just style it up to look like riveted panels.
The only thing I'd change is those orange turn markers really stand out after the rest of it black/grey now. Maybe small round orange markers instead? I don't know what the aftermarket is like for the FJ Cruiser
If you're already going up to Tacoma for the car you should do a meet up in Seattle, I'd be totally down to go, then again there is a massive storm here haha
If you add armor, you have to take weight into account. An armored vehicle performs extremely different and has major wear and tear on your suspension.
I have an FJ and I love it but you can't sleep in it. The front seats don't go all the way back, and its less than 5 feet from the rear door to the back of the front seats. You should look at the roof tent.
I used to work at a Line-X in Canada. There's no way for you to do it yourself, they use a $15000 machine that pulls two different chemicals from barrels, its like a custom rig made specifically for Line-X. We did spray a Ram 1500 at one point and it cost the guy around $4000. so theres that.
There is a Fj cruiser parked down the street from me. I will try to snag some pics of it. It has the linex stuff on it but only halfway up the side of the door. its got bigger wheels and a off road bumper.
could you show us your journey to pick it up
Yes, Please!
tijean sharpe yess
tijean sharpe yes show us the journey
yess
He showed the brz trip
This is probably the nicest photoshopped time-lapsed I ever watched. I think this truck will be a very fun to watch to put together and looks like a great concept. Never knew any concept with that would look good on that truck, but you pulled it off my friend. Very well done!
Hey, I own an 07 FJ Cruiser. There's one thing you'll want to do if you will off road it hard. Be sure and weld some more support where the engine mount is attached to the frame.
FJs and Tacomas are known for having the engine mount itself punch into the frame when driven hard. Google it. It happened to mine and I had to weld a support plate on it. The engine was actually sitting in the bay at a slant, ha
dont forget the lights shooting out the sides and rear of the roof rack. you may need to blind the zombies. :-)
One thing you should do is build foldable steel bars that go in front of the windows (windshield at least) and work as a latching point for stuff on the roof. Or as a minigun mount...
Adventure FJ Cruiser Pt 21 - Line-X Paint Fail Round 1
If you're not using a Jeep, be sure to recess the roof light bar back at least 8 inches to a foot. If you put it too far forward/near the edge of the top of the windshield, you can get hood blindness from the light shining on the hood at night. It's not super important if the truck is flat black, but it's especially bad in snow, and since you're in the north west, you will see snow. Just a heads up. If you feel like it, try some positioning tests to make sure a shadow is cast on the hood. Trust me you'll hate hood blindness.
Also, I'm super stoked you're doing an off road build. I love this channel!
Hey Chris - next Time you photoshop something and make something that gets repeated a lot like your rivets, make the layer a smart object by richtclicking the layer in the righthandside panel. You can double klick that layer and work on it separately in a temporary file. It will save you the hassle of repositioning everything!
Looking forward to your build!
One of the biggest things your gonna wanna watch for when line-x'ing an entire vehicle and with the build a full steel off-road bumper is weight of your vehicle, and the abuse your drivetrain can take from the weight, I would definitely look into maybe working on the transmission and if you do lift it, I would highly recommend new gearing front and back to compensate for the bigger mud tires and for the added weight of the vehicle, and I know my comment will most definitely get lost in the comment section but, I pretty much live and breath off-roading, from prerunners to over landing vehicles, so if you have any questions I would be more than happy to point you in the right direction! I can't wait for this build!!!!
Definitely film the trip there and back, sounds like a super fun trip. Supper stoked to watch and see how it goes!
Bought a "spray at home" bedliner kit for my buddies Grand Cherokee budget build. Color matched the red and sprayed in his barn. Turned out great and extremely useful!
love the fact that you are building a off road vehicle. I've seen a couple of vehicles that have been out in trails and have lynx and they say it adds a lot of weight to it
If you have to go pick up the FJ Cruiser from Washington, you should stop by or meet up with More Skids, another UA-camr who loves building cars. Quentyn and DJ are really nice guys!
Nice one. I have one myself, 2007 with 52k on it :) Best of luck keeping fuel in it!
Chris, congrats on the purchase! I'd suggest against putting any bedliner material in lieu of paint, though. I've seen it used a lot in the offroad world and it always looks like poop (scratches, flaking off, fading, inconsistent thicknesses, etc...). I'm sure this rig will come out cool and it's really difficult to do a bedliner'd body that looks good. Whatever you decide, best of luck and I look forward to the build!
That is an insane rendering of what you want your FJ to look like!!
Super excited about this build
This is really exciting. Congrats on the auction win. My biggest piece of advice for you for now is to leave the suspension lift and tires for the very last. You are going to want to know what the truck weighs at all corners before you decide on springs, and you can fairly easily have custom wound progressive rate coil springs made for you. With all the camping equipment, winch bumper, and all the exterior steel plating you want to add, the weight would sag a suspension built for a standard weight FJ. Best of luck and watch some videos about bullet penetration. I suggest carbon steel like AR500 so you can make it as thin and light as possible. If you make it light enough you probably won't even have to reinforce the door hinges. You can even see videos about Line-X coated AR500 steel being shot at to show reduced spalling.
Be aware Chris, armor plate is generally AR500 steel which is quite heavy, expensive and very difficult to form. You'll have to heat it a lot but doing so can ruin the heat treatment which will ruin the bullet resistant-ness. To actually protect against things like 12ga/smaller rifle rounds you're gonna need quite thick plate too. Even then, AR500 will dent pretty easily. Just some things to think of, if you choose to protect against only handgun rounds you can get away with thinner steel and it won't mark up quite as bad (especially if you just use lead-only rounds). The line-X might even survive (maybe). Neat project though, I'm curious to see where you take it. Last thing, go look up Demolition Ranch's testing of AR500, that will probably give you an idea of what you can and cannot do with various calibers.
Holy s*** an FJ. I super stoked to see this play out
rather than the bullet proof panels (which are kind of cool), what about an exo cage? It has realistic uses for trail driving and still gives that zombie survival look.
Toyota Life 👌
Alexis Avena hell no jeep life😀
+Brenen Penick A Toyota can go almost everywhere a Jeep can go and work daily.
You obviously have only had experience with 2007 and up Jeeps , i have owned a 87 XJ a 95 YJ and a 2003 TJ . All 3 had the same bullet proof inline 6 , and the 87 ran for over 900,000 km before the Peugot BA10 died and the engine was put in a CJ 5 that went another 165,000 before i lost track of it . With the independent suspension on the FJ Cruiser limiting wheel travel there are a million places where all 4 wheels of the Jeep would be on the ground , while the FJ would be crossed up with only 2 wheels on the ground . The real Hummer has the only independent suspension system that can outperform the the solid axle jeep that was designed at the same time as the hummer and first used on the first XJ . People can argue and say that the FJ Cruiser is a better road going vehicle , but the last time Toyota made a competition for the Jeep it was called the FJ40 , not the FJ Cruiser .
jerry henderson its not about crazy capability its about what he wants stop bitching hes paying
I weren't bitchin , I like B is for build and wasn't talking to Chris . I was just pointing out where the Toyota fanboys were dead wrong . I didn't start this comment thread , i just joined in when i saw the stupid remarks about Jeep reliability .
For the suspension , Get a hold of ICON Vehicle Dynamics ......... They build some of the best suspension parts for Toyota's ... Unless you want to put a Solid front axle under it , then get a hold of Trail Gear... They will have everything for that as well ...... If you want to get serious , get a set of Bead lock wheels ... They will let you drop the air pressure in the tires for better traction off road ... You can run 15 psi safely with out bead locks , but any lower and you will unseat the bead of the tires .... ( down to 5 psi if you have bead locks )
I have never been this excited for a build, ever.
I've never been so ready for a build this is by far the best build at first I didn't like the idea but after seeing the render I can't wait best of luck anywhere I can help contribute money to the build or the best way to do it is just buying stuff from the website but I kinda already have everything I like from the website unless you make a shirt for this build best of luck man can't wait make it quick
Sleeping in the back would be fun, but fair warning, the back seats don't fold flat. There is a 4 inch rise halfway through the floor that would suck to sleep on.
Well, I like the plan.
On the armor though, if you use normal steel many bullets will go through it. If you want it to stop a bullet you will need to buy real armor. That will add some cost to the build and be a bit heavy.
For the lift head over to Toytec, their stuff is solid.
If you want to learn more about good setups for these kinds of vehicles do some research on forums like toyota-4runner. They have an FJ section and much of the 4th gen 4runner stuff is the same. Please save yourself some heartache and research what works. We see too many guys doing things like a cheap spacer lift and wondering why their vehicle drives like crap now...
Welcome to the world of 4x4s.
The thin metal plate that goes in a standard second chance vest is to protect against sharp objects like knives. Not to provide ballistic protection. Those plates are ceramic and much larger. You would need a plate carrier for ceramic plates or a large iotv or otv with Kevlar. Kevlar is what gives standard vests their ballistic protection.
Going to be such a nice build man, really looking forward to this series!
I think hood vents on one side of the hood would like pretty badass on that.
I own an O7 FJ and love it. These are great vehicles. I am interested in you "armor" plating you are going to do. Be sure and keep templates of the plates in case you can sell them for others interested in doing the same modification. Are you going to do anything about the windows? Subscribed to see the progress. Good luck on the project!!
Are you going to weld studs and try a slide hammer?
yeah!
I go camping in my FJ cruiser often. Put your storage on the roof and get a full sized futon (I got one on amazon), lay the back seats down and throw the futon in there. Can't recommend it enough!
+Jericho Adler or store everything on the inside and get a rooftop tent
Thought of snorkel or body lift kit?
Iain Davidson body lifts will only give wheel clearance. If he wants to get more height to climb over stuff and do actual off-roading he's gunna need a suspension lift
I know that, as I have suspension lift on my truck, however in some cases body lift is a cheaper alternative at first. additionally as the wheels get bigger, differentials may need to change as the ratio may not be able to cope.
moar flex tho
Depends how much extreme offloading and therefore angle he will need
the fj is not a monocoque, it is a body on frame vehicle just like a tacoma of 4runner
Gotta do a snorkle and diff, tcase, and trans elevated breathers. Also Old man emu suspension is the bees knees for a nice 2-3" lift
Hey chris, i know alot more than the average joe about 4x4's. First off with fj's you need front diff lockers and a 2 inch lift, You can get about 3 inches if you do a 1 inch spring lift and 2 inch spacer lift. You need a snorkel(for water crossing and is good for airflow). DO NOT BUY CHEAP TIRES, get some nice cooper st max's, or bfg/maxxis mud tires, if you cheap out on tires and dont keep the car then its ok. There are laws in some countries about the tread of the tire sticking out of the guards and then not being road legal so thats why people make extended guards. If you are adding weight to the car by adding steel then you need heavy duty springs. changing the springs on a fj is not hard and would make a good video. If you do go 3 inches you might need new brake lines as the springs can extend too far and put stress on the lines under full flex. You need different off set rims if you want to go wider tires.
May sound kinda dorky, but adding the side plate metal makes it look a little like a warthog from halo with a roof. Stoked for the build!
make sure you replace those recalled motor mounts on the fj cruiser
Chris, get video of you getting the truck and bring it back to the shop. I like the render. This will be epic and i think itll become your daily. haha
Cool build but pretty sure the line-x will be real heavy, along with the steel bumpers and other parts. Assuming the engine will be stock [3.1L V6 I think], it may need some more power to move it.
I know you want it to be bullet "resistant" but here's some food for thought.
I wear an AR500 bullet proof vest for work every day. It has a 10" x 12" steel plate in the front and back that will STOP a 30.06. Each plate weighs 9.8lbs a piece. You're looking at adding over 1,000 lbs of armor to the truck.
Yes! Awesome buy! I have a built up fj, plenty of support out there, hit me up if you need advice on suspension or electrics, made some videos on shock rebuilds for the fj, also have done a large amount of wiring including integrating light bars into the Oem loom and oem relays..
Most of the budget for this FJ SHOULD go towards suspension, chassis and maybe even new axles. The front end you shopped onto your FJ actually had beefy axles on it. Everyone I know personally that gas tried to wheel a FJ has snapped stock control arms etc on the trail.
Nice man! I have an 07 FJ Ive had since new, You'll love it!
If you manage to build it even 70% like this photoshop sketch then it will be awesome. I think that the FJ is a car that really deserves a two-tone paint scheme so maybe keep the main body panels besides roof bumpers and wheel arches some other color than black. Military Humvee style satin sand beige or maybe even satin white would give a good contrast.
Hey Chris, was wondering if your going to do a custom back bumper as well? Also for your lighting I would recommend some flood lights for the back and sides as well. And if you do plan on off roading I suggest that you look into bead lock wheels. Can't wait to see the next video and I hope to see you driving around town as well!
Trauma plates, is what goes into body armor. Cool concept!
You should reach out to Tab and Slot, I think they have jeep bumper kits but they also have weld tables and can do a custom laser cut design too and I bet dave would totally love what you are doing and want to get involved!
My buddy sprayed his EK Civic coupe with Rhino Lining and he actually gets a lot of complements. I'm sure that there'll be a little difference between an FJ Cruiser and a Civic but his car actually looks really good with it. It's different.
I'm not sure if you have armored this yet, but you can buy uncoated AR500 plates for targets fairly cheap. they dont weigh too much and they stop an awfull lot of bullets. some 308 and 3006 loads, some 5.56 loads, pretty much all hand gun, shotgun and large diameter calibers due to them going slower.
Hey congrats on getting your FJ! I got mine in 07. Its aTrail team murdered out, (black roof too). You'll love it. I take mine out and wheel a far about.
A late friend of mine had a badass FJ Cruiser, 35 inch Toyo Open Country MTs, rock rails that went over the fenders and attached to the upgraded bumpers, a winch on the front, recovery points all over it, etc. I wish I could post a picture of it here, I'll try to send it to you on Facebook, I think he'd like it if you would use some similar parts on yours.
Awesome. I agree with the linex. I had a f350 completely done in linex. Loved it.
Nice expensive 4runner/Tacoma, same chassis and same drive train. they even use the same skid plate. I imagine toytec will become your home for aftermarket parts that are basically factory. Have fun building it!
Nice choice for the adventure vehicle. Should be a fun build. I hate when people bedline bodywork, but it's your ride!
Riveting the steel panels onto the door sounds like trouble. Mud/dirt will get between the two panels and rot em out from in between, at least that'd be my concern,
he said he would probably use lotus style adhesive between the plating and the doors. i think the rivets are more just for aesthetics more than anything
0xsergy it's perfectly fine if you zinc and seal protect around the rivets and edges. There's plenty of cars driving round with fenders for decades that are still fine.
xTerraH depends on where its driven. here in canada youre lucky to get 10 years without it rusting out but still if he seals it itll be fine
0xsergy yea he just has to seal em wheel.
Don't forget that added weight to the doors will call for reinforcing the door hinges.
Just so you know, based on the density of steel "armor plate", you're looking at (at least) an extra 10 pounds of weight on your vehicle for every square foot you add (for 1/4 inch plate). I don't want to sound like a pessimist, but I don't think bending the plate to match the contour of the panels is going to be possible, 1/4 inch plate is too stiff for that and it would require some serious equipment if it even is possible. I am really looking forward to this build though and wish you the best!
You can't spray it because it takes special equipment. Can't wait to see you do the rest of it though!
"Unlike other spray-on or drop-in bedliners, a LINE-X® treatment is professionally applied at high pressure and high temperatures, bonding instantly and permanently to your truck.
Made from a two-part polyurethane elastomer system, LINE-X uses equal parts of an "A" component, or hardener, and a "B" component, or resin. Using special equipment, the two liquids are combined right outside the tip of the spray gun. When the two parts are combined properly, the result is a polyurethane elastomer with tough, durable, protective properties.
The LINE-X dries in just 3 to 5 seconds, preventing runs or pooling that can occur with a cold, low pressure spray-on product."
I love the concept of the armor plating, it reminds me of the Mad max MCM series. I'm definitely going to do an apocalypse theme build myself at some point, I'm also excited to see how the FJ turns out.
can't wait to see this finished!
you can buy like cans of bed liner and use paint rollers to bed line it like that. ive done it with a spray paint can on a bumper and it turned out pretty good
This is definitely unique to the channel and will reel in some new viewers... good luck and I'm pumped for this!
congrats man, I love the FJ cruiser platform and love my own FJ more than i would like to admit, so congrats! However they are very difficult to work on so best of luck to you!
I'd do something with the front turn signals. The orange sticks out. Either blacked out or find clear housings.
I know it's not bullet proof, but consider some matte black powdercoated diamond plate. Portland powdercoating is really reasonable. We get anymore storms like this one and you can get by in a survival smart car.
I'm actually hyped for this build. You gotta get light bars on all sides of the fj! Haha maybe some cage/armor for your taillights also
This looks to be another stellar build!!
Looking forward to seeing how the rendering plays out!!!
Finish it before july, and get into FJ Summit 11, you will regret it if you dont go, best offroad/FJcruiser event ever. I'm going to be there.
Look up monstaliner for a DIY liner, I used it on my jeep hardtop and it works pretty good, probably not as good as linex though. They do sell spray guns for it though so you can apply it like linex.
the armor plating seems awesome!
This rendering is so exciting!!
The concept looks awesome!!
Looks great Chris! Can't wait to see it back! You're building an awesome stable of vehicles!
Everything but the bulletproof! The engineering for the door hinges alone would be enough for me to drop the bulletproof idea.
Id ditch the bullet proof. Itll most likely end up adding more weight than you want. Then you need to look into regearing the diff's to save the trans. The bumpers will be enough weight to begin with plus the oversized tires. Maybe just style it up to look like riveted panels.
Great price on the fjord, I'm REALLY looking forward to this build!
The only thing I'd change is those orange turn markers really stand out after the rest of it black/grey now. Maybe small round orange markers instead? I don't know what the aftermarket is like for the FJ Cruiser
Nice! already waiting for the build.
This is gonna look sick, Cant wait to see the finished result
If you're already going up to Tacoma for the car you should do a meet up in Seattle, I'd be totally down to go, then again there is a massive storm here haha
I love Toyota FJ Cruiser's! 💯💯
Dam, just checked local listings and jfs hold their value... You could get the older style for cheaper in most cases. Great score!!!
So long as you are throwing metal at it beef up the rockers. A laser cut B is for Build on them would be cool too...
I'm in Portland too. had my FJ roof sprayed with LineX too.. happy trails
Really looking forward to that build!
So pumped for this build!
super excited for this build!
If you add armor, you have to take weight into account. An armored vehicle performs extremely different and has major wear and tear on your suspension.
I have an FJ and I love it but you can't sleep in it. The front seats don't go all the way back, and its less than 5 feet from the rear door to the back of the front seats. You should look at the roof tent.
That actually seems super sick
I'm so hyped for this build, can't wait to see it!
So excited for this build!!!!😃
Can't wait for this crazy build!!!
Need more videos on this Toyota man!!
I used to work at a Line-X in Canada. There's no way for you to do it yourself, they use a $15000 machine that pulls two different chemicals from barrels, its like a custom rig made specifically for Line-X.
We did spray a Ram 1500 at one point and it cost the guy around $4000. so theres that.
Looks like a killer plan!
That is an amazing rendering
There is a Fj cruiser parked down the street from me. I will try to snag some pics of it. It has the linex stuff on it but only halfway up the side of the door. its got bigger wheels and a off road bumper.
So excited for this build.
This episode made me so happy. :)