FJ4Overland

4 point harnesses are illegal for seat belts (which has got to be one of the stupidest thing I've ever heard)*, so I went with 3 point DOT approved belts. I hate them, so I'm going to put in 4 point and if I have trouble I'll go argue it.

*DOT/cops claim that everyone knows how to use a button to get out; but not everyone knows how to get out of a harness.... as I said, stupid.

Some people put in both, and use the 4 point. The lap belt or 3 point is just an "extra."

Nice work. Do you have a rough estimate of what you spent (not including labor and any tools) ?
 
less then 20k more then 10k.... probably just less then 15k. I never add it up though I do have all the receipts.
 
I was watching some Viper ACR videos and they said it came with a 5 point, wth?? Googled it and there are lots of images like this:

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So it is not just racers, oem is doing it too.

Got a hell of a 4x4 for 15k$ and lots of work.
 
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notice it still has the 'normal' seat belt? there's no law against extra seat belts - but what's funny from that picture is most seat belt laws say "you shall use all devices available to you" meaning that to avoid a ticket, you'd have to use the race harness AND the lap belt....
 
notice it still has the 'normal' seat belt? there's no law against extra seat belts - but what's funny from that picture is most seat belt laws say "you shall use all devices available to you" meaning that to avoid a ticket, you'd have to use the race harness AND the lap belt....

Yes, that was my point, racers do that, and seeing a factory car like that makes it somewhat valid. Just make sure you can get the 3 point on quickly! Or, as you mention wear both.
 
So today was the day
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Steve lead the way
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if you look closely, I'm missing a bolt on the skid plate
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pretty flowers, no?
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this was fun
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as was this
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this might be were this major damage happened
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more flex
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it was a blast everyone made it home safely, and there is a list of fixits (next post)
 
So I drove 200 miles today and got 8 mpg, of course, that may change a bit once I do one of the fixits. So here's the list:
I publish this so the trolls can carry on their trolling, but more importantly for the folks who garage build and who the trolls and tv shows bring down. It's an honest list and meant to help others see that it's just part of the build process. Don't anyone get the thought that I didn't have a blast today - I did, this build was totally worth it.

Steering set screw - there are two, I ground one down...
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Steering stop nut, I can get more turning radius by turning it in a bit
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Not yet fixed
fuel smell - we found the reason - the top of the tank is leaking (which might explain some of the poor mpg - beside the 38.5 bias ply tires, 4.56 gears and brick aero)
Fuel level sender (again) 3/8 is empty.... need to solve that - but since I've got to take the seat out again... no biggie
fuel pump is annoying - I may fix this in my typical manner of build a new tank and put the pump in tank.... because, the easy way is for smart folks and Pirate knows, I'm not smart.
driver's side exhaust leak - annoying but needs fixed (I think I missed a hole header - not a gasket)
reset the driveshaft so it is straight. This one a pro got me - I set the shaft as Tom Woods suggested, he said I needed a degree in it to reduce vibration... uh, dumbme... I'll put it back (easy)
Water, cup holders .... yeah, get over it, shifting and wheeling makes carrying your coffee between your legs a perilous adventure.. and no, I didn't bring water or food today... I need to make food and water permanent in the vehicle so I don't do this again (thank you Regis for bring food)

this is a big one, cooler for the power steering pump. driving normally, it works fine, but it was not happy turning the spartan locker front. I'd like to add a steering ram (and will) but that's later - for now I may simply add a stabilizer so that I don't have death at speed-bump speed wobble until I get the funds.

a caliper is loose and rattling
seat belts are junk
stupid dana 300s, I didn't put the spring in and am regretting it. 4 wd pops out to 2 wd, I should have put the spring in. This I won't fix until much later, but it's an issue. I need to redo the shift levers because they are also problematic - at one point I had front-only drive which, as far as I know, is utterly impossible.... leave it to me to find a way to make that happen (not twice though)

4 hi/N/4 low... I don't like the levers, I may (gasp) put a stepper motor on it so that it mechanically holds it in gear..... it also doesn't like to go easily between the gears.

clutch, yeah again, as the day progressed so did the level of force required to use the clutch. I think I'll add more heim joints to the system...

skid plate rattle - this could be as simple as a rock on the skid plate.... but there it is.

Add to this the stuff that happened before (oil pump, almost burned to the ground, and the various getting stuff working senders..) and you'll have a complete idea of what it has taken to make it road worthy.

With all of that said, I was blowing along at 80 mph on a rutty freeway and it felt stable. It does tend to corner steer (when you turn a corner the rear helps in the turning process as the body leans - which can be a bit disconcerting to get used to).... that said, once the fuel smell is fixed - I'll drive it anywhere...
 
I assume the trolls are on the "Pirate" forum you refer to. I don't see it here. What the heck are they complaining about?
 
oh everything from wheelbase, to use of axles, to (my favorite) whether or not it'd fall over backwards upon acceleration.... certainly not here
 
strangely not one has mentioned it's a huge amount smaller then the 38s.... :skeptic:

their powers are anything but amazing.
 
A company spends all that money, in marketing, research, product support ... and throws it all away with poor quality products
I wasn't going to call out Howell EFI, but this is ridiculous.

To remind. The '40 died at a stop light and wouldn't restart. It was blowing the main fuse for the computer. After 4 hours of diagnosis, I thought I found the issue and fixed it - no, I just spent needless money. I presumed that Howell had done a good job - that was a mistake on my part.

Electrical tape is a wonderful, TEMPORARY wire cover. While it was covered by the loom, the problem was when they soldered the joints, they didn't trim the flash (the pointy ends of the wires) nor did they crimp them flat.... best practice is heat-shrink tubing... which it has now.
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Mind you, I wouldn't be so irritated if I'd not already bought a harness at UPullIt that I simply needed to do what I did today to the Howell harness - that is, trim, solder and cover with heat shrink. Secondary to the above issues is they didn't trim the ends of the plastic so it could rub its way through the wire.... oh yeah, the irritation... $400 I spent on their crappy work.

notice the nice, sharp edges and the forced 90 degree bends that bent against the loom cover?
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that ball in the middle, had nice ends sticking out - that's what shorted and why when I originally loosened the harness, everything worked again
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why not heat shrink? because everyone loves to look at electrical tape falling off?
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I feel better about my soldering too
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What's really special is the short wires that are soldered on both ends.... black wire must be hard to come by?
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5 solder joints, one wire.... no heat shrink....
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note the electrical tape coming off a main power wire? this was the short
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if only it had looked this good before I re-did it
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I re-ran the wires a bit
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and finally got around to the 2nd defrost hose
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drilling hole
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believe it or not, I think I'm going to leave it like this.... no pinch or rub possible
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I still need to loom the rest of the wires and find out why the gauge isn't working (again)

my table will get cleaner this week...
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I haven't updated in awhile.

The radio/dash install went great
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basically this is an example of the stupid little nut and bolt stuff that takes forever but needs to be done - in this case, I'm still not convinced I need a snorkel. I live in Washington and I'm not sure there is any place in the state where there is a legal water crossing that is higher then this.... so why have a snorkel? I may change my mind, but that would be after I blow up a motor...
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I made an executive decision and decided on a top-end custom top... which starts with a stock soft-top frame work
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not done yet, but I'll post pics when its done

and then I spent a lot of time fixing Howell EFI wiring problems.... $400 for a harness that I had to take apart and fix. Howell, when I asked for help, ignored me.... so I advertise for them...
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So this is stupid.... this tells you little about how a vehicle will perform off-road, but it's like a dyno number - it gives you an idea of what the performance will be

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it also shuts down the trolls. The score was 1008. My H3, which is pretty capable off-road, would probably score in the 600-700 range (by way of comparison to a stock, offroad vehicle)
 
I laughingly call this my "no toyota to be seen" picture. If you add up the sum total of the three rigs in the forefront, you wouldn't have enough parts between all of them to make one, all-Toyota vehicle
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but this is the natural habitat of what I built it for.

I think it turned out okay
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my dog in his natural habitat.... when it snows, you can't drag him inside
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off to our left is a dog
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a dog with jowls a flyin'
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who woofed at me because I'm laughing to tears
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because
he's stuck
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time for 4 paw drive
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success!
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time to head back to the rig to fall asleep
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that, my friends, is a typical day of 4wheeling, SBG style. :clap:
 
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