My LJ 20 build up

[Ballistic]

Ok i picked up and LJ 20 that was severely neglected so im not sure how im going to build it.  I would like to restore it back to original but the body is very rusted out and i will have to see how well my body repairs turn out before i decide on what i do with it. If i cant get the body back in shape i may just turn it into a mud toy, but im thinking it will turn out looking good atleast in my mind anyway. The motor is a 2 cyl water cooled 2 stroke, but the last owners blew it up and tore the head off to rebuild then gave up on it when they could not find the parts for it. I really want to overhaul the motor and use it so i have been checking the lj10 web sight. Hopefully i can pick up a head and exhaust or maybe even a spare motor but i dont want to sink to much money into this project at this time so will see. The plus side is the frame and running gear are in great shape frome the transmission down. Here is some picks when i got it. The little zuke was completely covered in rust scale and alot of panel are mostly rusted out.

 

[Ballistic]

Today i took my 4 1/2" grinder with a big wire brush and went over the whole body in and out to knock some of the yuck off it. I have got to replace the front and rear shackles because they way to long, also i think ill put samurai springs in it for the lift and to fix the sagging front spring problem. Well this is all i got sofar because i just got it on the yesterday.  

 

[Ballistic]

I got the front clip un bolted and i cut away all the rusted out portions of the floor boards so now its ready for me to make new ones and put them in. The pass side floor board was full of small rust holes but it was still intact so i will make templets from it.

 

[Ballistic]

The rocker panel are pretty bad so im thinking about building some rock sliders like on the samurais. Im not certain ill do that cause i may just build ones as close to factory as i can. Next after i get the floors and the rockers fixed i will have to build some inner front fender wells.

 

[samurayo]

Very cool little project!

 

[78trouble]

Are samurai floor pans not close enough to use ? 

 

[Ballistic]

These are actually twice as long as a samurai because of the step down where your feet go in samurais. The lj20 has the whole floor pan on the same plane or level. I will take what was left of the floor pans to a sheet metal shop and have them cut me out some nice ones with all the drain plug holes and build the floor supports it should turn out really nice.

 

[Ballistic]

Ok i got the templates made for the floor boards and they are getting built at a sheet metal shop hopefully i will have them soon. Im planning on putting a sammy 1.3 with 5 speed in it instead of going with factory motor do to parts for the motor be a major PITA! to get.

 

[samurayo]

Have you asked at Trail Tough? They got all the Hawk Suzuki stuff and supposedly there is/was a lot of LJ stuff there!

 

[Ballistic]

Ya i called them they pretty much sold everything the have and just have a small amount of brake parts. I found all the parts and even a motor from the guys on the lj10 forums but everything was atleast 2000 miles away and shipping or fuel cost to drive there was way to much so its not worth it to me. I will just use what i got and save the stock motor/tranns in case i decide to restore it to original.

 

[samurayo]

Sounds like a good plan 

 

[Diesel_Zuk]

My vote is for a 3 cylinder geo motor

 

[Cobracat]

Either way this will be a cool little truck

 

[Ruby]

Might as well swap in a Samurai transfer case and axles at the same time. Or, stick that body on a Samurai frame.

 

[Ballistic]

I have a 3 cyl geo motor with a webber carb lying around actually but i will have to overhaul it before i could use it. I dont really want sammy axles or tcase in it so i doubt ill do what ruby suggested. 
Only thing i dont like about the geo motor is the distributor points straight back into the fire wall.

 

[Diesel_Zuk]

I have a 3 cyl geo motor with a webber carb lying around actually but i will have to overhaul it before i could use it. I dont really want sammy axles or tcase in it so i doubt ill do what ruby suggested.
Only thing i dont like about the geo motor is the distributor points straight back into the fire wall.

Those engine bays are so tiny you are going to have trouble fitting any motor other than stock.

 

[Ballistic]

I will be taking this project slow due to having 3 projects going at once but as soon as i get the new floor pans ill put them in a post it up.