Project FJ

Special Deal: Brenthel Industries / Baja Kits FJ UCA 40% off

admin — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:13:03 +0000

So I got a e-mail from my friend Jonathan over at Brenthel Industries today. He is doing a very limited time, limited quantity special on their fully boxed upper control arms. Normally these sell for $1,050.00 but he is selling 3 sets including hardware for 40% off ($629.00). If you want to partake in the deal hit up www.bajakits.com and use coupon code: kris

All Pro High Clearance Exhaust

admin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:35:24 +0000

This past weekend I installed the All Pro high clearance exhaust tail pipe on the FJ. It was a very easy and straight forward install that took me about 30 mins. The results are a much cleaner looking rear end and as well as a much more functional one as well. On top of it I did a little painting to clean up some aspects of the truck such as the front air dam on the Bajarack to remove the Bajarack logo (Im not a big fan of stickers or logos all over my truck) and I also sprayed the rear hubs on the truck so they didnt stick out so much with the wheels on.

Photos below:

Some Recovery Gear

admin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:34:35 +0000

As of recent I have been lagging on this project. This usually isnt like me as I usually build all my builds super quick and then get bored and sell them. The truth is I have actually been enjoying the FJ just the way it is currently so I havnt been in much of a hurry to do anything else to it. Well the bug is coming back as of late. So recently I started ordering up some recovery gear for the rig. I figured I would start with the basics so I picked up a Hi Lift X-treme, a shovel from Lowes, and ordered up some brackets and mounts from ebay.

Ill be sure to update the post with photos of everything installed on the rack sometime next week.

Update:

Photos below:

FJ Lift Kit Installed

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:57:50 +0000

After two weeks at Brenthel Industries, I got the FJ back with their prototype Baja Kits lift kit. Unlike most lift kits the Baja Kit lift includes fully boxed upper control arms. Boxed arms offer superior strength to any other form of design and are a trick looking piece as well. To go with the upper control arms are set of Brenthel spec King long travel coilovers with remote reservoirs for damping duty. Since the truck is a 2010 and Toyota made slight changes to the suspension system the normal reservoir mounts wouldnt fit so Brenthel had to make a custom set of mounts for the front.

The rear of the truck is running a Brenthel / Baja Kits rear coil combined with a King long travel rear shock with remote reservoirs. Currently I only have this one shot of the truck edited, but I will update this post’s gallery later tonight with more photos so be sure to check back for all the shots.

All Pro Bumpers Installed

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:16:56 +0000

So I finally got started on installing some of the mods I had sitting around in the garage waiting to be put on. First was the basics like the painted grill, door handles and mirrors. These simple parts help clean up the FJ quite a bit. Next I had the windows tinted, just like on the last truck as living in Las Vegas with a 112 degree days like today its well worth every penny.

Then on the the major parts. First I installed the All Pro front bumper, the front bumper was a fairly straight forward install, it required a little trimming of the fender liners and a bit of bending of the AC line. I didnt get a chance to get the light bar installed due to time constraints and working on installs in a 100+ degree heat takes its toll on you. The next day i did the install of the All pro rear bumper. This bumper takes quite a bit more work then the front bumper and takes a lot more patience. You literally have to cut up the stock bumper and takes time. I luckily had done this on my prior FJ and sent the part to paint when the fire hit. So I was able to save some time by not having to cut up the bumper this time around.

As you can see I painted the upper black plastics on the rear door. I thought this gave it a cleaner Land Rover-ish look. Im still not a 100% on it but Im liking it more and more the more I look at it. Tonight I will be installing the light bar and once I do Ill be taking some better pics then the crappy cell phone pics I have been posting lately.

Replacement FJ

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:35:41 +0000

Well only 4 weeks after the fire and a little arguing with the insurance company I have replaced the original project FJ with is duplicate with a couple of exceptions. Since the 2010s are the last of the FJ cruisers being built and its coming to the close of the end of the model year it was tougher to find one equipped exactly as before. This time around its the same with the following exceptions:

Has in additon:

-Roof Rack
-Air Dam w/ Lights (being removed)
-Rock Sliders

Missing:
-XM Sat Radio

As you can see from the photo I already de-badged the rear, and added the painted door handles and grill on the truck the day I got it. I will update the blog again once I get more the parts on.

Project FJ Destroyed In Fire

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:28:13 +0000

On June 8th the Project Fj was destroyed in an office fire. All the remains of it is what you see in these photos. Luckily none of the aftermarket parts had made their way on the the vehicle and where being stored at a different location. I will update the blog once I work through the insurance process and get a replacement.

Brenthel Industries / Baja Kits FJ Suspension Kit

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:38:59 +0000

My good friend from high school Jon (Jonathan as he likes to be called now) Brenthel owns a company called Brenthel Industries. Some of you may know who he is through his efforts in working with offroad race trucks. His company has built and prepped class 1 trucks as well trophy trucks.

Well of course having a friend in the industry I did what any friend would do. Asked if he would be interested in building me a kit.

Jon thought it was a great idea since they are developing a new line of products called “Baja Kits” which are bolt on suspension kits that actually add travel. He wanted to set his kits apart by using real offroad race quality components that are not commonly seen on other kits such a fully boxed arms, and fully CAD designed and tested for optimal performance.

So to get to the point I started off buying a set of stock upper control arms and sending them in to him to have them computer scanned. They just finished the upper control arm design this week as shown below.

He is currently working on the specs for the coil overs and the rear set up.

some of the features planned for the kit:

All boxed engineered upper control arms for the utmost in strength and aesthetics
4130 chromoly teflon lined rod ends on inner pivots giving you more adjustability for increased ride height vehicles and strength opposed to some competitors inexpensive bushings without the adjustability or ultimate strength.
1″ aircraft grade stainless uniballs to eliminate the stock weak ball joint
Shocks have internal reservoir for compact installation
Coilovers are completely adjustable and rebuildable

Ill be sure to keep everyone posted as things come along.

All Pro Offroad FJ Bumpers

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:08:17 +0000

I ordered up some trail armor today with the purchase of All Pro Offroad’s Front Bumper with Large Light Bar and their Rear Bumper with Tow hitch. I plan to color match the bumpers to the car and then put a thick clear bra on them to protect them from brush and trees. You can check out the quick and dirty photoshop in the the gallery below.