4x4Review Off Road Magazine
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| Before it all began… |
Our project FJ40 looks good from afar, but up close it was far from good. The interior of our Cruiser was a hodge-podge of products we have reviewed, junk-yard goodies and countless freebies and confiscated parts from other projects. It was a rolling billboard for the shabby-chic school of design.
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| A teaser… The completed project |
It was time for a makeover of epic proportions. I leaped to grab a notepad and a pencil, and started transforming my thoughts into an ergonomic design of shaped aluminum, twisted steel and sex appeal. I drew out an ergonomically correct design with minimal and easy-to-reach controls. I wanted something that could be wiped down and hosed out while being easy to work on and eye-catching.
The Beginning
Building The Center Console Chassis
The next step was to look at my computer sketches (nothing fancy mind you) and start shaping the 1” tubing, thus creating the chassis of the center console. The idea was simple – build a chassis that would flow nicely from the interior firewall going underneath the dashboard – this section would house the electrical switches, bend down slightly and house the transmission and transfer case shifters, taper in to fit between the seats, and then finally make a 90 degree bend downward towards the floor. Umm… yeah. The idea was simple, but the bends were fairly complex for this novice tubing bender. After contributing around 30 feet of tubing the “spare steel” barrel, I finally got the shapes, bends and angles just right.
Once the main chassis segments were just right, it was time to start tack welding the cross members into place. I had already ordered my Carling Contura switches (the same manufacturer that makes the ARB air compressor switches) and the B&M Pro Stick shifter, and I knew the dimensions of the Northwest Fab cable shifters for my Dana 300 transfer case.
The cross members would not only serve a standard purpose, but they would also be home to dozens of mounting tabs that would hold the aluminum skin, shifters and switches too. Accordingly, I spent the better part of three days measuring dozens of times and building mock cradles, temporary panels and measuring some more to be absolutely sure that everything would fit nicely into place – If I’ve only learned one thing in the past 15 or so years of working on 4×4’s, it was to measure a lot and build several prototypes before committing to the expensive steel.
With the cross members securely tacked into place, I began building the cradle for my B&M Pro Stick shifter, so that it would be neatly frenched into the center console. The cradle I made is pretty straightforward – it’s just some steel 1½” X ¼” flat stock that I shaped into 90 degree angle U’s. I also drilled holes in it to secure the shifter from the bottom with the supplied nuts and bolts. I used a piece of scrap aluminum sheet and cut the opening so that I could alter the cradle until it sat at the correct height – a bit of trial and error was required to get it just perfect.
Next up – Aluminum Skin Preparation
Fortunately, I had the foresight (call it wisdom or just dumb luck) to build two mock aluminum skin panels. These throw-away panels were precisely cut to width, and I drilled all of the “mount tab” holes equally as precisely. With these temporary panels, I would use them to align every mounting tab on the center console chassis, and each tab would be perfectly aligned side-to-side and front-to-rear. The plan; I would pre-bolt the tabs to the panel, and only then would I tack weld the tabs to the tubing, thus ensured that every bolt would be equally spaced throughout the center console.
Finalizing The Center Console Chassis
I then removed the aluminum skin, flipped the center console chassis upside down and started placing the final welds on all of the tabs that I had fabricated. I also placed a few heavier tack welds on each of the nuts.
With this complete, I then chased all of the threads in the nuts with a tap just in case some welding splatter found a new home and to deal with the slight warping caused by the welding heat. Finally, I sanded all of the welding slag and imperfections out of the chassis, wiped it down with paint thinner, and painted it with semi-flat black, Rust-oleum textured paint. By the way – this is some pretty tough paint that looks fantastic.
The Final Skin
This may have been the most difficult job yet. I made cardboard templates for both sections of the skin (the switch panel and the main body) which would then be transferred to the 8’ by 4’ section of 1/16” thick aluminum. Here are a couple of things I learned:
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If you want to cut aluminum and don’t have an industrial sheer, use a good circular saw with a NON-FERROUS metal cutting blade. The cuts come out absolutely perfect and the saw eats through the aluminum like butter with zero binding or buildup
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Use a large piece of square tubing and secure it to the sheet as a cutting guide when you cut out your general shape. This ensures a precision, straight cut
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Use 4” wide painters tape copiously, wherever you cut. It will keep the aluminum looking perfect. For that matter, I coated the entire sheet of aluminum with this stuff -
Leave the painter’s tape on the entire piece of aluminum until you are absolutely finished with your project and ready to clear coat it. This will reduce the chances of blemishes and scratches dramatically
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When making precise cuts that require curves, use a good jig saw with a NON-FERROUS metal cutting blade. Again, it creates a beautiful cut with no binding or buildup
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To get your metal edges looking perfect, use a small metal file and very carefully work the metal. I
spent the better part of a day filing the metal to get the edges just perfect, and I’m glad I did -
To bend the aluminum, simply use your thigh (careful though, one slip and you’ll be signing soprano). Take your time and start by making small bends, then test fit. Bend a bit more and test fit again. Lather, rinse, repeat until it’s just right. I found that leaving the bends slightly less bent than I should worked better than getting the bends to their final curve. I let the bolts suck the aluminum into place and it made for a very graceful and precise curve.
Final Assembly and Installation
The final assembly went fairly quickly and was easy to do. I mounted the B&M Pro Stick shifter into its cradle and bolted the main skin onto the chassis. I then bolted the switch panel skin onto the chassis and installed the 2X6-pack of Carling Contura switches as well.
