Vintage Grumble

Awww gummon. Yeh poor car was way down the list of projects to be completed, but has been moved to about 3rd equal now, lols.

So I haven't used the old girl for roughly 4 years (I think I stopped using it around the first COVID lockdown) and I find myself pining to hoon it again. I was going to give it a real big birthday, but have realized that now is not the time (shitty old house and young kids sucking up huge amount of time and resources) so I have decided to do the bare minimum to get it back on the road. I want to use it for Nats 25, so have roughly 4 months to achieve WOF status. It should need fairly minimal work to get a WOF really, but last time I didn't use it for this length of time (Took me 4 years to panel/paint it, and that was about 10/11 years ago) all manner of I'll shit went wrong with it, so who knows. So it defiantly needs: Cracked windscreen taken out, rust repaired under said windscreen, paint and then new screen fitted. It might need: Drivers side headlight has a small hole in it, but has clear tape over it, it was getting WOFs like this in the past. I have a replacement lens to go on, but in the past I reattached the lens with silicon rather than polyurethane, so might be a bastard to get the old lens off. I've always had trouble with the adjusters braking/popping off, so will try find a solution for that while its apart. Things I want to do/long term items: Change all fluids, bleed brakes etc. Send mesh wheels away to be re-barreled (lols, like that's ever going to happen) Fix up a few dents/chips/cracks and repaint the whole car again. It needs to be tuned again, its running crazy rich under acceleration ATM. It has a few fatigue cracks around the place than need welding up and painting. General clean up of lights/indicators/bumpers etc. FINALLY sort out rear main seal leak Sunroof mech needs a new part, which I think I have, just have to find & fit it. This list will get a lot longer when I actually dig it out of the shed, wash it and do an inspection. The chap that was doing my WOF's before I stopped using it has also moved back to the area and is back in business doing WOFS, so that will help my cause a little. Cars not dodgy, but helps to have a dude do it that knows the car kinda I guess. And a random pic of a very similar looking car for inspiration and to tart up such a dull post a bit. (dem USDM bumper though, yikes) Regards, VG.

Way too many, its amazing how much time it can take to do fairly simple things in a half assed way. Dunno how skilled patient people get anything done. So got a bit more done, cut out and installed the last bit of floor, and the seat base. Got the boy onto sealing/priming them, Then I made up the tow bar and bumper support doofer. Made another bumper the same as the front, not how the real ones have it, but needed something to try protect the lights & body, Then I welded a bit of pipe down the length of the shassis, to protect the wiring, Then I thought I better make the throttle pedal fit. The old one is basically a full scale thing, and it takes up a lot of real estate. I thought about modifying it, but ended up just buying a much smaller one off Ali, Then I dismantled the shassis for paint prep, and discovered the motor is going moldy from all the fruit the kids have run over in the back yard, ewww. Also, one of the brush holders is coming out, so i'll have to fix that. I'ma pull the axle to bits and grease it all up real good too. Then I made up a little dash panel, which I didn't like, because the charge port looks ewwey there, and the switches are ugly and very wonky. The body of the switches are on a huge gangster lean to try make them look straight in the front. So I found a new home for the charge port (hidden up behind the dash) and got some new, much less wonky switches. This panel will get painted white, Charge port and charge diddle, Got some threaded wood insert things and slapped the dash thing in, Then prepped and started painting all the bits and bobs, Then today we finally got some sun so starting slapping colour on the body (this is just the first coat), And then primed the shassis, The CRC cans I'm using for the body have been complete cunts. I'm shaking the piss out of them for ages, and heating them up in hot water, but some cans constantly clog nozzles, others have shitty nozzles that put out fuck all paint, and others chuck out too much, spitting out big droplets, so its been a bit of a cunt. I'm keeping the good nozzles and reusing them, but damn, sort your shit out CRC. The fucking thing might be finished in the next update. Maybe. Regards, VG. Probably not though.

This made me think of the project binky bendy driveshaft thing. And that they are waaaaaaaaaaaaay overdue for a new episode. Edit: It's been over a fucken year!

May I ask where you acquired that muffler?

He possibly cant now, I know my wank sponge can only go on the backing plate one way.

Thats most excellent! Worth a shot to see how they come out. Someone's even done the whole grill too (not that I could use it) https://www.printables.com/model/117207-toyota-land-cruiser-grill

SOOooOOoOOOoo I took a week off to finish the trailer, and didn't even touch it, started on the kids mini land cruiser instead, lols. I did take the SXS to nats, which has been its only outing for fucking ages (too many jobs at home to be done). Photographic proof of it being used (thanks to @Thousand Dollar Supercar) It was good to have a hoon on a flat surface (big thanks to @Thphantum) to try and get used to the handling, 4WD is still a bit strange to me. Didn't roll it, which was excellent. And seeing as I've hardly used it, I decided to waste more money on it, by buying a second hand set of the correct OEM bead lock 14" rims complete with more aggressive mud spec tyres, as my local track is often muddy as a son of a gun. The other reason for buying these, is so in the future I can go to a bigger tyre to gain a bit of ground clearance. It currently has 27's, the new tyres are 26's, but there's waaaaaaaaaay more options for bigger tyres in a 14". I've found out, nearer the end of the day, I start to have ground clearance issues, as the modern SXS's all run way bigger tyres (I think most come with 33's standard, and some go up to 35's) and they dig huge trenches in the tracks, so going up a few sizes should help with that issue. Can't go too big though, cos I don't have the power/gearing for dat. And a pic of what my SXS is actually meant to look like, with the rims I've just purchased (wish I still had all the black plastics rather than the fucking rainbow it is now sadface.com) Lame update sorry, don't have much to do at work, lolololols. Regards, VG.

I actually have an ATV winch from my adventure mower, but its a bit too big. Also I wouldn't trust my kids with a winch, they will get up to no good with it. At the very minimum I need to come up with "TOYOTA" badge for the front grill, either in laser cut wood or maybe a sticker? And I would also like to get the "Toyota land cruiser" stickers for the side of the bonnet. Could probably get them all 3D printed I guess? They would just need to come out pretty smooth, and I have no idea if that's achievable or not?

Sheepers please, the truth really hurts.

Yeh I know its going to get driven straight into a tree

Sickness and life getting in the way slowed progress way down, but starting to achieve a little bit on this thing. I slapped in a dash, will house the switches/key/volt gauge and so on in the slot. Then I glued on and sanded the back panel, this is to get the swage shape in the back "doors" without having to rout it out of the body (I don't own a router and this was way easier to do). Then I welded in some supports for the firewall, and made up said firewall. The firewall and center section of floor will stay on the chassis. Next was to whip up a front bumper bumper from some box section. Made up some bumper mounts, which was a mission, because the chassis isn't straight or square, so had to diddle around a bit to get it looking central to the body. Also glued N screwed the grill that holds the lights in, and cut some more slots in the lower front to make it look more like the real thing. ALSO, I started on the window frame, which is for looks, but also something for the passenger to hold onto, to lessen the chance of an unplanned rapid vehicle disembarkment. I have made up some flat bar to weld on and make it look more like a window frame, but not sure if I will fit it. ALSO ALSO I made up and attached the mudguards and running boards. And then, just to make me feel like I am actually getting somewhere, last night I started the paint process. I have started off with brushing on some pigmented sealer, as I'm painting over ply, fiberglass and bog. Hopefully this sticks and seals everything up well, then I'll chuck heaps of rattle can primer filler and top coat at it. I failed to do a test patch, so really hoping the spray primer and sealer get along. And that's about it for now. Regards, VG xoxox

If they start, he can just slow down.

How does the floor get attached to the hull?

Its comforting to know that the organizers of the ride kind of know where we are going, puhuhuhu.

Yeh the filter is mint, looks to be new. It doesn't need any choke to start, so I'm fairly sure its running rich. Smells a bit rich too. I'll start by dropping the needle down a bit and see what happens.

J5 is bringing me as his +1. Looking forward to a dirty weekend away. I just need to get the CT to do more that 70km per tank, or just bolt lots of fuel cans to it.

That's friggin sweet! Looks to be quad bike based?

I actually have a massive boner for early Jimny 2-strokes. An old guy that comes into work has one, I'm trying to get put into his will so I can get my mits on it. Anyways, I have done a bit more on this thing. Don't laugh at my lack of wood working skills, I fucking hate working with wood. So I made the front guards, bit of a weird shape to try and make out of wood, mostly because of my being a tard and all. A bit of fiberglass & resin, a hint of bog, and they should come out pretty good. Then I got started on the bonnet, which is probably the most complicated shape on the thing. Added some wooden ribs, and a couple of dowels as reference marks, then put real thin MDF under them to keep the foam in, then filled the gaps up with foam, then carved the foam with a hacksaw blade and Stanley knife, then chucked a couple of layers of fiberglass over it, to give me a firm base to work with. It actually came out really close to correct, so will need very minimal amounts of filler. Next was lights. My B-I-L used OG dolphin torch reflectors/lens' on his Jeep, that he cut down to the correct size. New dolphin torches have four round LED bulbs in them, so don't look anything like a head light. The only torch I could find that was roughly the correct size, and also sort of looked like a real headlight was some budget items from Bunnings. I pulled them to bits, linished & sanded the OD of the lens down as small as I could, but so that the reflector still fit into it. I then cut the holes in the body to suit these. The front grill will hold the lights in, and also down size them to roughly the right scale size. I also found a Toyota badge that used to be on my 86 (before I got a legit one) that's pretty damn close to the correct size for this, but not sure if I will use it or not. The back lights were way easier, I found some LED lights on Ali that were the right shape and scale for this thing. They are meant to be in corners of the bumper IRL, which seems silly, as they would get smashed real easy. I added in a bit of wood roughly the same shape as the real bumper, and set them into this, so they are a bit more protected. There will be a steel bumper under them mounted to the tow bar in the future, so it should be quite a challenge for the kids to smash them. That's pretty much where I'm up to. Regards, VG. xoxox

Does it have a name? The killer Bee, The Bad Banana, Caution tape, The one man school bus, Smokachu, Yellow bellied road snake?

You're so far away, yet still giving me 3/4 race boners.

I wasn't expecting to buy another bike this week, but you know how it goes. An old man came into work and asked "How's your mates gyro going" referring to @Raizer sick rig, so obviously I'd mentioned it to him in the past. He then says he's going to sell his, so I had to go look at it. I then proceeded to fall in love. It's so hilarious. The dude I got it off was 76, and the previous owner was also an old man that got it for his import wife to use, but she never did. So it has quite a few old man spec "improvements" which include LED strip lighting riveted to the body with a crap ton of rivets. Paint "touch ups" which means badly applied rattle can paint with lots of over spray. Lots of random holes drilled in the body, every fastener they have applied is a different drive, and an oil line blocked off with a cupboard shelf support pin and copper wire. So she needs a bit of love and attention, but I was surprised to see it had aftermarket rear rims/tyres and an expansion chamber, so she might be making a few extra microwatts. Anyways, the new bike/trike is a 2001 Honda Gyro Canopy Wagon: Note method of light attachment, and modified floor mat, The lean over/hand brake lever has snapped off, so I need a new one of them. I'll also have to try clean up the windscreen, it's a bit messy. Phat tyres, rice pipe, and old man reflective decorations. The OEM lock is gone, has old man spec latch, will sort something better, Douglas racing rims, and sweet dice valve caps. 100% I'm going to redo the white lettering, Powerplant. Needs an air filter and a few mounts made for fuel pump and coil, plus a few hoses need replacing. The pipe is quite neat, I fucken love these rims/tyres TBH, It's totally getting vinyl stuck on the headlights to make JDM angry slantey eyes, The LED lights are coming off because the are horribly fitted and stick out like dogs bollocks, but I will probably refit them underneath and a more discreet manner. They have like a trillion settings too, So yeh, lots to do, but pretty excited to finally have a gyro. Regards, VG.

Have done a few very short rides on this bad boy, and its running pretty damn good. Its quite nice to ride also, which is a bonus. At nats I did a 75km trip from nats HQ to a museum in Cambridge, and just to be safe, I decided to re-fill it before departing for nats HQ on the return trip. It went onto reserve in the middle of the road in front of the service station, which was a bit of a surprise, as I was told it would do 200km on a tank (6L) but had only managed 75ish. That's around 8L/100km, which isn't great. J5's bike which is very similar, and was pulling the same speeds, and is only 15cc smaller in capacity, used just over half as much from memory, so somethings not quite right. Its defiantly running rich, and often smells a bit gasey, but I cant find gas leaking out anywhere. Will dropping the needle make a noticeable difference? Cant really think of anything else to check/change? I did manage to hit the metric ton in a two lane flat express way race with J5 though, so that's a new PB. Also also, a person on TM who confirmed they had both racks I need, then ghosted me super hard when I tried to buy them. BUT I mentioned to a customer that I yarn to about shit old bikes, what I was after, said his best mate apparently has at least 6x CT200's laying around, so he is actively trying to source the racks for me, excite. Pic4fred: Regards, VG.

As a scum bag north islander, you really do forget how fucking amazing the south isle is. That ride looks like a must do TBH. Also makes me very happy to see the NBC out there living its best life.