Although this isn't a photo of the finished rolling chassis, it gives you a taste of the quality standard we hope to continue. These upgrades-shocks, shackles, and disc brakes-should make for an impressive combination. We'll have more in our next installment.
When we last left our Toyota project, a mid-'60s FJ45 shortbed, we had just finished swapping in power steering (June '99) along with new gears, front brakes, and ARBs (July '99). Now, we're in the final stages of transforming our classic (read: very tired) import into a reconditioned, muscle-flexing masterpiece.
From the outset, we've wanted to take the advantages of the longer wheelbase of the 45 but do some improving on the departure angle. Some trimming of the bed and rear framerails proved not an easy task but well worth the effort. With a new suspension and shock setup in the works, we needed to take all the measurements for new spring mounts and attach points. With that behind us, we had the frame blasted, shot, and sprayed, and we got spectacular results. With all the parts prepped, all we had to do was start bolting together springs, axles, shackles, and brakes.
For the most part, there were no surprises, except for the interesting shackles we have lined up for our project. Basically, it's a cantilever setup, practically able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...in theory. We'll be watching it on the trail (and even its road manners) in a future episode. Here we go.
After some preliminary suspension testing, we think we found the right spring packs for what we have planned. This set of 4-inch Downey springs will allow us to fit 35-inch tires comfortably under the 'wells. Note the 18 inches of bed length we have slated for removal. | 
With the bed off the body, Brian Grouws makes the first cuts to shorten the overall bed size. Our goal is to fit a fullsize spare and a diamond-plate 35-gallon fuel tank easily in the bed-and make it look good too. | 
Absent the unneeded portion of our bed, a few tack-welds keep the two pieces together so a strong bead can be laid and smoothed out. When we're done, we don't want anyone to know this bed was any other size or shape. |
The front driver side of the frame holds our fabricated Saginaw power-steering brackets, which have been recently powdercoated. The front cantilever shackle has a two-stage design with two separate pivot points. Notice the pad made to press against the bottom of the frame in normal driving conditions. | 
During rockcrawling, the cantilever shackle can fully extend close to 6 inches more than a fixed set. The kit can adapt to just about any leaf-spring setup with the room to accommodate the fold-up pivot. The shackles are made from 31/48-inch steel with 51/48-inch Grade-8 bolts, heavily lubed poly bushings, and bronze thrust washers. | 
Both front and rear solid spring mounts offer greasable fittings on our project 'crawler, also with poly bushings. |
Downey has fabricated a special shock tower to help accommodate the added articulation the new suspension can allow. Two heavy-duty plates add 511/42 inches of length to the stock shock mounts and have been welded to the original mount plate for extra strength. The custom Doetsch Tech shocks offer a 51/48-inch rod width with all the valving characteristics of the soft-riding MV-12. | 
We've calculated that 1-inch rise (metal-to-metal with snubber removed) snubbers should keep the front wheels free from rubbing metal. Rear bumpstops needed a 4-inch (metal-to-metal) drop. The special cutout in the poly stop offers a progressive rate of deflection. | 
Since the rear of the FJ frame branches in a Y shape, rear spring hangers had to be gussetted away from being directly underneath the frame box. |
In our last episode (July '99), we stripped the backing plate off our stock Toyota rear axle, removing everything related to the factory cast-iron brake drum setup in preparation for a relatively easy disc brake conversion. | 
The rear cantilever shackle must use an offset frame pad (although difficult to see here) to allow the leaf springs to line up perpendicular to the axlehousing because of the Y shape of the frame, as previously mentioned. | 
With all the prep work behind us (axleshafts removed, drum-brake parts off, axles replaced), the disc brake conversion is, for the most part, a bolt-on. We positioned the caliper mounting bracket onto the axlehousing flanges-with the necessary lazer-cut spacer shims-then bolted it down. |
With the new disc rotor in place over the wheel studs, we tightened until flush. Position the new caliper over the rotor and tighten all bolts to the mounting bracket. Calipers should mount with the brake-line fitting facing down and brake-fluid bleeder up. If the opposite is done, the caliper will have to be removed each time you want to bleed the brakes. | 
Stainless-steel braided hoses will have to be attached to the banjo bolt and be routed so as not to interfere with any parts during suspension travel. The brake line attaches to the axlehousing vent tube and should be located in a manner that keeps the lines from catching brush or potentially snagging themselves on some rocks. | 
The final piece to the conversion was the proportioning valve (with a 2-pound residual valve attached) to allow for front-to-rear adjustability as well as the pressure needed to keep the brake pad at the rotors. The valves can be installed facing any direction (up, down, or sideways) just behind the master cylinder-the most convenient place being somewhere inside the engine compartment. |
Project FJ-Hybrid - Part I
Project FJ-Hybrid - Part II
Project FJ-Hybrid - Part IV