DAD

New toys!

We are extremely grateful to have a space to work on our truck - it's not a small project. However, there is no power at the part of the property where it lives. We've reached this point using 18v DeWalt powered aggression, but that won't cut the mustard when metal needs sticking together rather than chopping to bits. Enter this big bastard.

This is hopefully punchy enough to run anything we can chuck at it, and after the build is finished will serve as the backup generator for our solar setup. 

However, quality control was a bit sub-par. While testing the generator I noticed it was dripping diesel, and it was pooling inside the case. Removing some of the panels revealed the culprit, a poorly placed hose clip.

Snugged up and reassembled, we had power!

The next big box to arrive was this:

Which contains one of these https://www.thetoolshed.co.nz/product/560-toolshed-metal-cutting-bandsaw

After the saw was assembled, it started to earn it's keep straight away by sectioning bits of angle iron (cut from the massive frame that originally housed the pump). Combined with a stainless steel roller from the hose reel, it spawned a roller stand for easier handling of the 8m long steel box section that is supposed to be arriving imminently.

Another job that got ticked off today was what to do with the isolation wood that lived between the chassis rails and original tank body. You can see one of the original wood runners modelling the bandsaw setup above. 

When I discovered this originally I thought it was a bit of a bodge, but research revealed that it's a pretty common practice to use wood for this for a few reasons - isolating harmonics, stopping metal/metal squeaking as the chassis flexes, and allowing a convenient standoff for the raised rivets and captive nuts that dot the upper surfaces of the chassis rails. After some mulling, we've decided to stick with this setup for our build too. If it was good enough for Mills Tui and lasted 3 decades...

The frame we are building will be longer than the original body, extending forward through where the pump section (between cab and tank) was originally. The contact area will be just under 3.7m long, while the current wood sections are just over a metre short of that. A tour of the local timber merchants lead to one of them rummaging through some shelves out back and finding the perfect piece of hardwood timber - exactly 3.7m long, the same thickness as the originals, and wide enough to get 2 strips from. We will use the originals as templates for the holes, then drill more at the 'front' ends to accommodate the lumpy bumpy chassis rails.

Steel box section for the body is (allegedly) arriving any day now, current plan is thus;

Ignore the lack of roof, luton floor, and incomplete 25x25mm wall verticals - the former two are hidden on this view as the picture was too cluttered, and the latter hasn't been finalised yet until we pick up some doors and windows to plan around.

Following the chat in the discussion thread, we've decided to follow @yoeddynz's sage advice and have the body pop-off-able incase of spectacular mechanical failure. Should make construction easier anyway!

Thanks for the discussion and tips so far.

 

 

 

Hi all, I've been meaning to post this up for some time, but was finally inspired to put finger to keyboard after a sharncall with @yoeddynz last night.

@PastyDynamite and I bought this for ourselves as a Christmas present, with the goal of housetruck conversion and living the pikey dream.

She (the Hino, not Meg), is a retired Hino FF173 double cab. She was converted into a fire engine by Mills Tui in Rotorua, and served time in Bulls, Foxton, Ratana and Kaiaua and racked up approx 43000km in that time.

She was listed locally on TM, and it turned out the guy selling her was the husband of one of my co-workers. He owns a heavy/ag machinery sales company, and bought this a couple of years ago and stashed it in his shed because he liked it.  Unfortunately his wife didn't, hence the sale.

As you might expect from a low-mileage ex-fire truck, it seems mechanically solid and drove really well on our test drive. By the time we took posession, she had been gutted of her pump, but its cradle and rad dials/hardware remained, as well as the beautifully constructed 2700L water tank/gear stowage section. Also missing are the beacons and siren, though there is still a sweet toggle that makes the front marker lights flash in a left-right alternating pattern.

Deconstruction started in earnest - without any heavy lift gear we decided to remove as much bulk as possible. We also want to retain as much of the more interesting bare materials for exterior/interior reuse.

Initially the pump cradle (all steel) came out in two bits. Thanks to @Goat for the assist and regular help/brainstorming!

Next, the hosereel, ladder mounts, tank lid and baffles were removed.

After much mulling, we removed the aluminium cladding and decided to split a third of the tank section (lateral to the chassis) off, then tip the remaining two thirds off of the other side.

This brings us to the current state of play, where we have a rather stumpy looking doublecab on a bare chassis.

 

Another job that needed doing was repair or replacement of the fuel tank. The old girl is pretty low on ferrous oxide, but had accumulated water in the (absorbable) padding between (steel) tank and (steel) tank straps, and rotted both sides of the equation out.

Found a compatible, marginally better nick version from a breaker and tarted it up.

On the subject of crusty bits, the cab has a few areas where water has sat beneath chequer plate and eroded the firmament beneath. Meg got to cutting and sticking.

We have considered a number of designs for the body and its mounting method. The construction style that seemed most promising was a composite box, a la expedition trucks, chiller trucks etc, as they are strong, light, and really well insulated. Something like this:

However, they're also super expensive; we got a rough estimate of $50-60k for the box alone from one place, others that would supply panels for self assembly were cheaper (but not significantly) and would come with the added logistical headache of assembling a monster structure.

Back to the drawing board (aka Fusion 360). New-old plan is to make up a simple flat bed, then construct a frame-and-cladding house box on top of it. The old tank body was attached with 6x chunky bolts through the plate bridging the back of the chassis rails, and some monster sprung-bolts at the front to allow for chassis flex, similar to this but much heavier duty:

Suspect we'll end up re-using this method for the bed. If it's good enough for a lump of aluminium and 2.7t of water it'll probably be enough for the house module.

Some older versions of CADding that I've got screenshotted, the subframe between chassis and body is likely to be quite different to these, but it gives the idea...

 

...so that's where we are up to! Will update as things progress. Input and suggestions gratefully received!

 

Discuss -

 

On 10/07/2020 at 16:33, Roman said:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/subaru/auction-2679837213.htm?rsqid=8dfb23cf6cf140ccb55e3411fca01edd-003

I've always had a soft spot for these. Saw this one in the UK a couple of years ago:

Supposed to be reasonably straightforward to manual swap with Impreza or legacy bits too. Definitely more of a GT in the N/A Supra/300zx/3000gt vein than a sports car, but they look mental and sound rad with the flat plane crank flat 6.

I saw some RVRs a few pages back, there's a manual turbo one on trademe at the moment here.

I've just got back into NZ, leaving managed isolation tomorrow (after 14days, I'm not planning to cut through a fence). Perhaps because the cabin fever was closing in, or perhaps just because I'm a chronic Subaru foamer, I did about the dumbest thing possible and blind bought a turbo Subaru from Facebook marketplace. Manual 2.0t wagon. Have had 2 in this shape previously, nice cars but they were rather dreary 2.5 NAs. Hoping it'll go hard for what it is, will report back. Will also report back if HG and/or gearbox are chooched.

New ride (photo from ad):

This was tucked away over winter having some tickling. It was running really well last year, but was drinking a bit of oil, and would let out a puff of smoke when opening the throttle wide after a period of pootling.
Compressions were good on all 4, symptoms pointed to valve stem seals, which is a common issue for these engines at this age.
As a 'while I'm here' job, I decided to replace the inlet cam VVT pulley, as this had developed a rattle (again, extremely common due to wear of the internal teeth that engage to actuate the vvt timing change). NOS pulleys are available, but expensive , but the only other choice would be going standalone management and aftermarket vernier pulleys with a VVT delete - something I wasn't particularly keen on as I like that it runs so sweetly on stock management. I bit the bullet and bought a pulley and set of Supertech valve stem seals from Battle Garage in the US. Oh, and also a TRD 0.8mm high compression head gasket.

Got the head off:

Cleaned up the block surface. Take a look at the top of the pistons and take a guess at which ones have been burning oil...

Head was in good nick, but the valve faces were all quite badly coked. Pulled these out, and cleaned them back to being mint, then lapped the valves/seats, reinstalled stem seals, valves, springs, clips, shims and buckets. All moved nicely and looked much fresher than when it came off. 
Refitted the head on the block, using the thinner HG - this is supposed to raise compression ratio to approx 11.5:1 (from 11:1 stock). Minimal gainz expected as it's on stock management, but is good futureproofing and is a small enough bump to not worry about detonation (I only put Super in it anyway).

Replaced the VVT pulley, fitted cambelt (kept old tensioner, as this has only been on there for 1yr/1000km and was still mint), and got it all timed up and back at factory specs.

Have driven it several times since and it feels just the same, seems to be using a negligible amount of oil (i.e I haven't noticed a drop at all so far, win!), and doesn't produced an annoying VVT pulley rattle at idle.

Quite happy all in all!

Have a recent snap from a local breakfast meet: