CarolsHusband

I had to google that coz I know nothing. That's pretty mint but I've been beaten to it over here. /there can be only one. Fuck, I wish I'd kept what was left of my original tub.....

Door on, front shocks on, heater fan fixed, interior progressing, waiting for alternator, nearly run out of nuts and bolts. No seats or window mechanism yet gosh darn it, possum on a gum bush, etc. /pic

Got a few hours in today. Rad in, filled up and warmed up. All seems good, runs quiet aye. Fitted the rest of the front end up & sorted the electrics. Seems to be a bit of an issue at the rear, looks like water's got into the loom where it was cut for the tow socket. Starting to look like a Hilux again. Doors & sills painted black for the moment. Still no seats and someone's nicked my push bar (kairntz) but I've scored a Unimog bumper which will fit with a bit of fettling. Alternator got all excited by the activity and shat its guts. New one on the way. Thinking I might go for a colour like this in the end, probably with some orange & brown 70's graphics and West Coast mirrors. That's all I've got for today except for sore knees and a bit of a thirst on.

Things have been happening, just not really photo worthy, New stop solenoid wasn't broken, I'd caught the O-ring when I fitted it and jammed it open. The word "moran" springs to mind. All sorted now. Gave it a good rev and the cam belt stayed on the pulleys so I guess that's fine too. Radiator turned up. Looks good (bloody ought to for the price) so that'll be going back in tomorrow. I've just got to find the fan shroud from the last time I had the rad mended in 2001. I think it's in the roof of the garage. Maybe. Got to start the Skyline up and pull it out to get in the roof. Possible fiasco on the cards + some swearing. The winch is up there too so I'll be grabbing that n'all, and not dropping it on the Skyline in the process. I seem to be having a bit of a communication problem with the bloke who's selling me seats and a window mechanism. Gonna chase it up. Don't fancy sitting on those rat wee/poo seats again TBH. Steve did the repairs on the door skins yesterday, I primed them this afternoon and may just whack a bit of matt black on tomorrow. Talking of which, I'm now starting to think about colours. White would be the obvious choice coz it's half done already but I'd quite like to do it the original red (though I'm not sure about how it'd look on the new bed). Or maybe that Skoda colour that looks like grey primer. We shall see come the spring. For the moment it's just gonna stay rough. I've insured the truck, I'm genuinely hoping it'll be back on the road by the end of the week. I'll try my best to take some pics tomorrow. / one pic

Ha ha. "Test drive" my arse. (Not literally, thanks). Rad didn't turn up, excuse being " We are waiting for the correct core to be delivered" My guess that is reconditioner-speak for " We'd completely forgotten about your rad and someone is looking for it right now" Checked the fuel filter for post-plumbing debris, refilled & refitted. Primer packed up. Rigged up a hand primer and covered everything in diesel. Nice. Got it running again, sounds great. Also still sounded great when I switched it off. New solenoid is knackered already. 5th gear, foot on the brake, dump the clutch. Gave up and did a few jobs on Mrs Shuzz's car as she's off with the bin lids for a couple of days. Back on the Hilux tomorrow. /It's getting too cold for this bollocks. //pics if you're lucky.

New year sort of update. Been scratching away at it when I've had a minute. It's back on its wheels, brakes all done, fuel system all done. Cam/alt/steering belts changed, nice to see a slightly risky repair on the water pump 15 years ago is still 100% watertight. Running sweet, radiator due back tomorrow, doors will be welded Friday and then I'll finish fitting it up (hopefully with new seats by next week) and then take it for an MOT test. I'm sure it'll fail on something but you never know. Stranger things have happened. Mrs Shuzz came over to see how hard I was working and caught me chatting instead. And then took a picture. I'm the fat teapot on the left. To be fair, I had a lot of layers on due to the fuckity freezingness this morning. A few more pics because pics. Test drive tomorrow, with no doors obviously. I'm pretty sure the heater still works so that'll help.

Well, he did it again. To the other sill this time. Then started making up for it He's going to finish tomorrow, he told me. Says I don't owe him anything but I think I do. I pulled the tank out, it was a twat and I got an armpit full of stale diesel for my trouble. It was so f***ing cold I gave up at 3 and came home. Think it was a bit too cold to take pics n'all.

They're the one thing I still can buy here. Mine'll clean up ok though maybe /but thanks for looking.

To quote him " It'll all be worth it when I see it coming down the road " / good man.

A few more pics for the "My mate's a bit good at welding" thread. I did some stuff too, messed about with the rear axle, modified the wheel-cylinder mounting so you can actually tighten the things. Not photo worthy. My new stealth rock-sliders... Land Rover based body mount..... Got it to myself till the weekend so a couple of days off from the arc eye. Which is nice.

So while I've been pratting around with the rear brakes, like 2 hours to strip 'em, (really stupid wheel cylinder mounting design), Steve cracked on with the welding New inner wing/battery tray Little hole turned into big hole. Apparently I'm going to need a Land Rover body mount here.... Sills coming on a treat, he's going to roll an outer sill to make it look neat & seal at the door bottom. He reckons he'll be done by the end of tomorrow, I believe him.

I did some stuff. Hubs & brakes all back together and nothing even leaks Used a proper pipe bending thing for the first time instead of a broom handle/scaff bar/door jamb/my boot, etc. A+, will trade again. Got the new shocks on and fired it up to move it to the other workshop. It ran fine, it then wouldn't rev, then wouldn't idle & then died. First time in 22 years it's let me down. We're guessing the stop solenoid's had it. Going to investigate tomorrow once the new battery tray is in. My mate reckons it's like an old farm Collie, happy to be left outside for years but as soon as you bring it inside and give it some attention it can't handle it. Now in the resto shop with all the busted-ass Pommy stuff My mate Steve's cracking on with the rust I'm doing some bits and bobs like sorting the doors, electrics etc till he's out of the engine bay & then I'll pull things off the motor and swear at it until it runs again. New fuel tank coming tomorrow, that's gonna mean bed off so I might as well grind and paint the chassis too. More thrilling tales from darkest Wales tomorrow

Have a video until normal service resumes..

Wednesday morning of ironic failure. After the disc brake back-plate debacle, today I put the hubs back on and bolted the new calipers. They're the wrong, they're for the vented discs. Along with the back-plates. So if I'd known that I could have swapped the solid discs for vented ones before I gorilla'd them onto the hubs of reluctance . Then I'd have a "brake upgrade", as suggested by a few folk. So what I actually had was 2/3 of a unfitted brake upgrade for a bit, and what I have now is no brakes which I'm pretty sure in a step backwards. Hopefully new correct calipers arriving tomorrow. /no pics //threw my fone at the truck. Sigh.

2 hours to change over a pair of discs. 2 hours. Pressed the studs out of the first one, disc was still jammed solid. Broke the disc in the 30 ton (30.4814 tonne) press. Bloody thing came off then. Cleaned it all up and fitted new disc, started on the second one and then realised I hadn't lined up the two retaining bolt holes on the first one. Finish second one, strip first one again, rotate disc one stud, reassemble... /fuckwit. // pic

Yeah, I had 70's Alfas. I feel your pain. I'm aiming for function over reproduction, luckily enough. Mate's doing the welding so it's got half a chance of looking ok.

Got to the point where it's mostly putting stuff back together from now on, which is lucky coz the bed's nearly full of parts. Because we skipped the bit where I have it a home before I took it to my mates place, I'm not going to paint the chassis, etc for the moment. It's now running sweet and starts on the button, which is nice. Aim is now to just get it back on the road all legal like, and worry about tarting up in the spring. Don't know what year though. Welding is starting on Thursday, just in time for the headlight panel by the looks of it. Just got to finish the brakes, put all the engine belts on and sort some electrical gremlins. Hopefully MOT in a couple of weeks. /not much pics, busy getting covered in crap.

S'gonna be white, mostly because half of it is already. And maybe some yellow/orange/ brown graphics and a set of west coast juniors. Been on it today and will be tomorrow too. Hopefully some pics to follow.

Yeah, ain't gonna look that good. Ever. Probably wont bother now. /lock thread plz *edit* and a TOTP to add insult to injury.

In your crazy, upside down, had Japanese cars forever type reality. We only had Land Rovers until 1979. Thanks man, that's all I needed to know. Ordering them right now.

As far as I know it's a MK 2 or LN65R. 1984-88. If you're looking at my thread don't be put off by the bed, that's off a 2004 MK4. /pic of what it looked like new but in blue, not red. Thanks for the offer of finding some there, I may end up doing that. Probly end up cheaper too. 460 quid ? You can buy a whole car for that.

Too late, bought all the standard stuff already. Which, as it's a bolt on conversion, lead to me assuming that the LN105 back plates would be pretty damn near the LN65 ones. No suppliers are willing to have an opinion whether they'd fit.

Anybody got a price over there ?

I do get the diff dirty now and then but I don't go looking for trouble very often.There's a voice in my head saying " they put them on there for a reason". You're both probably right though.

Brace yourselves, I'm having a serious moment. The backplates on my MK2 Hilux are shagged. They're not available as a pattern part here and Toyota want £460 for a pair of them. Gulp. I'm not having a lot of luck finding out if the MK3 are close enough with a bit of fiddling ( the swivels and hubs are the same, calipers are a bit wider for vented discs but pads are the same). Short of driving 2 hours to my supplier and comparing, it would be a bit of a gamble. The other option that has been suggested by some off-roady mates is to leave them off. Apart from having to make a bracket for the brake pipe union, I'm a bit dubious about the amount of crap that'll get flung at the brakes. Anybody got any advice/ideas ? Ta