WhangareiKE70

Sounds like you're a man with a plan. Fuck I love everything about this truck.

Having the receiver hitch front and rear with cunningly planned wiring means a single winch can be used for recoveries in either direction, with the winch just set up on the cradle. Was something I thought about with my project but decided to just go with the more usual bumper mount as I had the space.

I say try again on the 29th. I am actually still a little sick and still wouldn't really feel comfortable hanging out in a social setting, given the current environment. Don't want to pass this thing on.

Not as awesome and hectic as @Transom's beast, but I have one of those standard sized folders, they normally bolt to a bench and take up valuable bench space. I'd already done some strengthening mods, did a mod yesterday that I had been meaning to do for forever, took all of half an hour and most of that was finding the right size bit of box section. Just welded some box section to the feet of it, now it slides into the end of my welding/work bench. The bench weighs a lot so it is very sturdy once in there. Comes out easily, and I can hang it on the wall in between it's very occasional use, rather than having it in the way all the time.

No experience on those/TIG in general really, but one thing I will definitely be looking for on my next machine when I buy an AC/DC TIG is pre/post flow control for the argon and foot pedal control. It does have up/down slope control which is neat and somewhat compensates for the lack of foot control. This may adjust the pre/post flow based on the material thickness/type if I am reading the manual right, which would be good. Mine seems to just send it especially for post flow, which is a pain if you are tacking things as it uses way more argon than necessary.

So I did some more things, and continued my trend of not being mindful, and thus not taking a sufficient number of photos. But I did take some. First I made a plate to cover the mangled snorkel hole and make it prettier: I then tidied up the hole that was on the guard: Then welded it on and forgot to get a photo of the finished product. As you can see in the above photo I have cut off the old flare style around the arch for something a lot simpler, which is on and I also forgot to get a photo of. So I have ground back all those welds. The guards need a few more patches put in where old badges used to be (done some but not all), then some general panelbeating. Next mission was to get the body off to make exhaust stuff easier, make engine stuff easier, and also get it tidied up/finish welded etc and hopefully off for blasting in the nearish future. Make sure it is ready to get some paint when the warmer weather turns up. Getting the body off was a lot easier in the old shed as I had a hoist, but no 3 phase in the new shed meant it stayed at my parents place. One day I will install a single phase hoist, but that's a future expense that I can't justify/afford at the moment. So I got the chain block out, got some heavy angle from work, some chain and shackles and whipped up a lifting rig that can pick up on the pinch seams just behind the top of the A pillars, which is plenty strong for just the cab. However, the strop made it hang too low so I couldn't get enough height out of it. So I did a sketch and asked Bill at work to whip me up a chain block mount, which eventuated in this: Which meant I could mount it higher up and and straight to the beam. Used some hose clamps to attach a piece of dowel to the handle so i could operate it without having to lean over the body on a ladder. Body came off: If the parts turn up (some v-bands and a few 45 degree bends, the exhaust will finish being tacked together this weekend. Will do what I can on the body, but I get the feeling my argoshield is gonna run out if I get too into it, it's a bit low haha. Depending how keen he is and what the weather is like, I may get the old man to give me a hand with some engine work too (sump swapped, new water pump and timing kit etc).

Haha nah, I'm gonna sit it out. Gonna do some stuff at home, but even that may be a bust, I run out of energy real fast once I start coughing. Don't want to get anyone else sick. EDIT: I will see how I feel, but no promises made.

I know this has been covered here, but for the life of me I can not find it. Looking to buy a medium to good spray gun for primer. I am going to get the main shell blasted/primered all at once, but would like to be able to do doors/guards/small bits at home. If someone can point me in the right direction or even to the correct page of this thread, that would be amazing. TIA

Looks like I am missing another one, got a cough and don't want to spread my germs. Have fun yáll!

Ok so probably dumb question but I am gonna ask it anyway as I am not sure and want to clarify. I see things saying don't underseal things that are going to be shown to your certifier, as they may need you to scrape it off to show repairs etc. I am using Raptor liner as my top coat for my Datsun 4wd, does this mean I have to take it in for a pre-check in primer? It is a possibilty, as I will be taking the cab off to be blasted and I can take it back home via the certifiers but I am just confused really. Any clarifications on this? Also second question, regarding rego for the final product, which will be registered as a scratchbuilt. I still have both the chassis (Nissan Safari) and the body (Datsun 720) regos on hold and in my name, just in case, is this necessary? And I know they get thingy about tags being taken off for painting, does this still apply when a vehicle becomes scratchbuilt? TIA

Yeah I’ll take the jack/spare/shovel etc off for the cert. I’d say I’d take the roof tray and side bars off too but there are mounts for the exhaust on there and it might be taking the piss. Haha And I’ll keep an eye out for those twin pots in the meantime. I’m amazed they don’t make repo twin lot calipers for the GQ diff, there’s such a market. Thanks man! I’m glad it’s turning into something finally. I really threw myself in the deep end on this one haha

Definitely don't need wider track at all haha, in fact if I went to GU diffs I would have to buy lower offset wheels. The diffs that are on there now have fully rebuilt calipers, new disks, braided lines etc, so I will just get some really good pads and try it like that I guess?

Thanks for that, turns out I had joined that last one already, but the other 2 should be helpful.

Nah, just the Northland one, let me know what the good ones are and I will join up.

Not even off page 1! Another lockdown project I had was to make the spare mount. Very little outlay needed, I had the materials, and something that needed to be done eventually, so lockdown was the perfect time to attack this. I have 33x12.5r15s on here at this stage, and that is likely to stay the case, but I made it with enough clearance for a 35x13.5r15 wheel and tyre as that is the biggest size I would ever consider putting on this. This also leaves me with a decent amount of rear vision which is nice. Will put some insertion rubber between the bottom of it and the tray, it's spaced off the tray a little bit (exactly 1x SS nut and 2x pcs of insertion rubber worth) to make sure it doesn't sit in water. Also put my canvas trash bag/spare cover on which you can sorta see in the last photo, but not properly, because once again I forgot to get a proper photo. Need to actually get a spare still too, the drivers front is currently on an axle stand just so I could make sure all my measurements had worked out haha. Have also done some more work on the front bar, so that's almost ready to go away with the sliders, side bars, and roof cage for blasting. But I will save that for another update once it's all finished and I have the photos. Please feel free to come on over to the discussion thread and let me know that I am a crazy person.