The Mongrel: FJ62 body + FZJ80 chassis + turbo diesel + ???

[RMP&O]

Ahhh, you've already gone full mongrel. Why not add a ford 9" or something to keep up the trend. Maybe some captains chairs from a Tahoe.

The portals actually run 9" 3rd member. They are a mongrel of an axle!

However, if the portals don't get used I am definitely going with built 80-series axles.

Cheers

[Bugspray]

use the portals.
that diesel is indeed drool worthy
what type of intercooler is that? stock nissan?

[RMP&O]

use the portals.
that diesel is indeed drool worthy
what type of intercooler is that? stock nissan?

The top mount is stock Nissan for a 3L td. The front mount is a big PWR.

Cheers

[RMP&O]

Moving forward with the build soon...

Just sold some stuff and more sales in the works. Not looking like there is enough interest in the portals for them to sell. And I am not going to sit on them for a year or two until they did sell. I am very close to using them, in a week or two if they have not sold I will pull them off the market and start to work on getting them under the FZJ80 chassis. Out will come the plasma cutter for hack hack hack, then on to new mounts for the axles and glue it all on. That is after I shorten the chassis 6".

Just lined up some 37x13.5R17 ProComp tires for $200, 20-25% tread. Should hold me over nicely until I am ready for new rubber. Having tires on the axles will make moving them around much easier plus allows me to make sure everything will be good for clearances. I got to buy some stock old cheap 80-series front coils but that is all I really need to start working on chassis and axles. In a week or two tops will have a nice big industrial sand blaster and compressor here for getting started on the clean up. I am not really going to be ready for that so soon but a buddy of mine is wanting to rent the blaster set up soon and I think I will toss in on it for a few days. I can use up some of these 8 or so bags of starblast I have had sitting around for like 7yrs now!

cheers

[RMP&O]

Today = progress made!

I got me a rolling chassis!









Had to bolt knuckles on the axle housing which I simply hate doing as an assembly. Did it anyways cussing the whole time. After that hook up the radius arms and panhard. Slap on tires, lower it down and done deal! No front springs just sitting on bumps. Obviously no 3rd members but I have a rolling chassis!

I measure 107" wheel base on my FJ60 and 112" on the FZJ80 chassis. Anyone want to verify or dispute that? I think I am going to chop it less then the 5-6". I am going to check out moving the front axle forward 1-2". This gives better clearance for stuffing a 37" tire and trimming the front wheel wells if required, will be easiest. Soon I will have the portals out of my Patrol and start looking much closer at fitting the portals. I am really starting to consider custom links over the stock in the rear using 7075 1.5-2" aluminum and maybe Johnny Joints. May lengthen the arms too. In the front I am thinking 3-link much more or possibly even a 4-link similar to the rear. I have a shaved sump on the motor so may have room for something like that. I want to increase flex on the front but not sacrifice road handling or high speed dirt/sand/gravel. Even if I end up doing this or modifying the suspension in the rear too I am sticking with coil springs at all four corners. Don't really want to mess with the $$$ of coilovers or the needing to rebuild every 50k or so miles.

Tomorrow I am removing some things from the FZJ80 frame, the bolt on stuff. After that out with the sawzall to remove some more junk! Then time to pressure wash the rolling chassis.

cheers

[RMP&O]

Didn't get much done today other then a pressure wash on the FZJ80 chassis. It cleaned up nicely and is in better shape then I had thought.

Had to do an axle swap on another truck, all part of the plan. As you can see this truck is blocking in the FJ62 so need to get it out of the way!

[zimm]

portals always seemed to be a solution looking for a problem on a "car" sized rig.... when one looks at the overall height limitations to Keep a truck livable (assuming this isnt a monster truck build), and all other things being equal, id choose 3" bigger tires over a set of portals.

on a unimog where youve already designed in the tires at their practical maximum size? Portals solve further clearance issues i suppose. on a "nissan 62/80"... are you really gaining anything with the 15,000 bucks? i mean you already own 'em so its 0.00 bucks on the books, but would you do this if you hadnt these in stock already, and if so, why?

[RMP&O]

portals always seemed to be a solution looking for a problem on a "car" sized rig.... when one looks at the overall height limitations to Keep a truck livable (assuming this isnt a monster truck build), and all other things being equal, id choose 3" bigger tires over a set of portals.

on a unimog where youve already designed in the tires at their practical maximum size? Portals solve further clearance issues i suppose. on a "nissan 62/80"... are you really gaining anything with the 15,000 bucks? i mean you already own 'em so its 0.00 bucks on the books, but would you do this if you hadnt these in stock already, and if so, why?

The portals and the potential issues with them is something I am definitely spending a lot of time thinking about. Monster truck? No not at all. Think more along the lines of Oilworkers Rover as that is about the size of truck I am shooting for in terms of height. Portals by design put a lot more force and stress on the suspension components. However, I do think the stock 80-series stuff is up to the task. I am planning to run 37" tires but if I find it to tall I could use 35" and be happy.

I spent more time measuring yesterday. The rear axle is going to be a snap to fit. The front will be more of a challenge. Width is also a concern. The portals are 68" WMS to WMS, the 80-series is 63". So it is definitely going to be getting fairly wide with the portals.

Would I buy the portals now if I didn't have them for a build of this type? No I would not! Would I sell them if somebody stepped up with $13,000? Yes I would, I may even let them go for $12k. Who out there in 4x4 land wants to buy these axles though for that price? From advertising them and knowing what I know, I would say it is few to none interested in buying them. If I sold them I would go with super built and blinging 80-series axles along with 4-6" of lift to suit 35-37" tires.

What I will be gaining with the portals is obviously ground clearance. Beyond that though it is strength. This truck is going to weigh around 6,000lbs once done, perhaps more once loaded with gear for a trip. I will never break the portals, ever. Once under the truck I figure I can forget about the portals for good. Meaning I will never need to upgrade an axle shaft or buff something else up in them because I find I am breaking things or am to heavy for the axles I have. Will I use the portals to their full potential? No I doubt I will. However, I am sure I will always be happy with 17" of ground clearance under them. That will be useful in many places including deep rutted muddy roads in the jungle. A good friend of mine wants to see me use Toyota axles. he has good reasons for this, such as being easier to fit under the truck but also that I will likely never use the portals to their full potential. However, unless somebody buys the axles I am not left with many choices. I don't feel like sitting on the axles forever until they sell. And it could take a year or more to sell them. So at this point I just don't see why not to use them. It is like a scale, weighing my options and then deciding the best route to go, all things considered.

I realize this is not your typical bolt on a go overland build. I also realize a lot of people here may think this is a bit much for overland use. Hey I understand! Thing is, this truck is to be my drive out to the Rubicon, run the trail and drive home. Then the next month jump in it and drive down to Panama. On my trips south in the past I didn't do a lot of off pavement, a lot of reason for that was the truck being to mild in it's ability off-road. In this truck I will be looking for off pavement routes!

cheers

[RMP&O]

Buying a sand blaster in a few days. Going 50/50 on it with a buddy. We were looking at renting a blaster and large 185cfm compressor for a week but honestly it makes more sense to buy the blaster and rent the compressor as needed.

Here is the blaster we are buying...

http://www.hornetblaster.com/gallery

So, I will be blasting the FZJ80 rolling chassis myself and doing that sooner rather then later! This also means I can use up a bunch of sand blasting medium I have had sitting around for years!

[zimm]

i'll tell you where they arnt overkill... russia.

a buddy of mine that was lucky enough to have a "john edwards" style class action suit 20 years ago, started to travel the world on cheap japanese bikes...

(with 20 years non stop under his belt, his advice? buy a 600cc japanese road bike of any brand, throw on some knobbies and go. anything more is a waste.)

... back on topic... he was in japan when putin declared the siberian highway done. he decided to up and go to moscow, and that statement was apparently a bigger overstatement than president bushes operation complete picture... it ate their bikes on more than one occasion. he said if it rains, you need a monster truck.

theres where you should take it. screw central america, in another 5 years the chinese will have it paved anyway. wild russia is where portals belong.