Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted September 13, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted September 13, 2018 I did have a thread for this, but it didn't get worked on for several years, and I think it has gone. So, start again. (Picture here of Datsun when I first got it if I can find one) I have/had (depending how you look at it) a 1985 Datsun 720 4wd. It was gutless, it had rust, so it was a Datsun (not a Nissan haha). I thought I would pull it apart for some rust repairs and paint, that was (too) many years ago, it snowballed, I ended up disassembling the suspension, driveline, painting a lot of things, modifying the gearbox to accept an RB, bla bla bla. Then this year, I had been chipping away at it, I had finished study and finally had a decent job. And one day as I was doing something I looked at it and decided I wasn't going to be happy with it when it was done if I continued down the path I was on. I couldn't add too much power or things would explode. I couldn't get aftermarket parts to improve things like ride height and driveability (not easily or cheaply anyway). So I thought, "stuff it", and decided to just do what I wanted in the first place, and had always said I wouldn't do because of cost essentially, but yeah, now I'm just going to be irresponsible for a bit and throw money at this thing until it runs and drives and I am happy with it.. So the basic equation is: GQ/Y60 Patrol chassis and suspension, diffs etc. 4" suspension lift and all the goodies that go with that. + RD28 gearbox from RD28 factory patrol. + RB25DET from your friendly neighbourhood Ceffydrift/Skidline. + Datsun 720 King Cab body, with factory body mount points, adapt the chassis to suit. + 33x12.5 R15 tyres on -22 offset 15x8 steel wheels. + Flat deck because practicality (I do want to use this thing once it is done)/ease of adaptation to Patrol chassis, and adaptation to toolboxes etc. = Profit??? /more likely major losses. But profit in happiness. Have done some work so far, but a lot of time/money has gone into setting up my shed to make this project as easy/efficient as possible. I modified the roof in the shed: (Ignore thee strange writing on the walls, it's an old farm shed that has slowly been modified to be my garage, there are lots of .22 sized holes in the walls, and there were gas lines in the ground when we dug it out to put in the floor) So I could install a hoist, which has multiple uses: Lift it up to put it on a dolly, damn these things weigh a whole lot. On a dolly next to the gearbox from the Datsun with an RB25 front housing swapped onto it. Slight size difference. Patrol chassis in place. RD28 gearbox. Unfortunately this chassis originally had a TD42 (which it didn't come with, but there was no way I could use anyway as it was waaaaaaaaay too big), so the driveshafts don't work, but will have a look to see if Beattys Drivelines have any listings or if I can source replacement entire driveshafts to suit. Nissan Lego! With the body in about the only place it will go, i.e. engine will fit behind radiator support with radiator under the panel, gearstick in a useable position, etc. Will likely need to cut and box the firewall/tunnel. Had to cut out this bit as well as some of the seat support to let the transfer case shifter come through. With that cut out the shifter comes through the factory shifter hole, bit further back than normal, but still very useable, and with a slight tweak to the actual shifter the transfer case shifter will work fine and not rub on the passenger seat. The picture above is with the shifter in 4th so that is as close as it gets/have checked it in all gears. Currently tidying the rear diff: Painted in POR15, will get new rotors and rebuilt calipers shortly. Then will go back in once I buy the last pieces of the rear suspension lift, which will give me enough time to tidy/paint the rear of the chassis. Has an LSD which seems to be in good condition, which will do until it is on the road and then I can think about an air locker. Went to Auckland the other day, got some tyres from @Stu, bloody nice guy, nice to meet you in real life after all these years of seeing you on forums. Sharp price too. Pictured here with my parents flash new couch and a whole bunch of new free diving gear, was an expensive day all up haha. (Please excuse the twist in the tie down, I know, I'm embarrassed for me too) If you are thinking: "Gee, that looks like a fairly low offset wheel, and you are already putting them on a chassis that was designed for a significantly wider than the body than what is going back on it, are they going to fit?" Then the answer is "Yes?" Gonna have to make/buy (I don't know of any 200mm ish wide you can buy?) some fairrrrrrlllllllyyyy hectic flares, but I really don't want to reduce the offset, so that is what I am sticking with until such a time that I may be forced to do otherwise. They should be fine this way, will just be a case of trimming the sheet metal to suit. Look, honestly, if this were an exercise completely in practicality, then I would have failed. But mostly it's an exercise in "I do what I want", then deal with the fallout. So I call that a win! I get my new welder this week (HF TIG, MIG, Arc w/ spool gun) so looking forward to having a play with that, and potentially making a start on the design for the chassis to body mounts/posts, will make up something up then get them ok'ed by my local certifier and welded up fully by a mate I hope, my welds aren't up to crucial parts like this and I feel like there are better places to practice on. At the moment it is sitting on the hoist with the chassis on axle stands. I will make a discussion thread shortly and link to it at the top of this post, let me know your thoughts, constructive criticisms etc. I will try to keep this updated, I am good at taking photos of stuff usually as I do it, just terrible at actually putting those pictures up. Cheers, Hayden. 18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted October 1, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 1, 2018 Okeley dokeley, Did some more on this. Pulled the diff apart, as far as didn't take out axles or anything, just cosmetically, will check to see what it's like once it runs and go from there. Drained the oil and that looked fine, which was good, was honestly quite worried it would be half full with seawater. Put some new rotors on bacause shiny/old ones were shot and well past a skim to get them right Painted the rotors, baked them in the benchtop oven I conveniently already had (how cute) then kitted them out with new slide pins (only 1x cause it was munted), pistons, seals, etc. Shiny.... And all together. Shocks are RAW monotube 4" lift, should do the business. Wheel are new ROH 15x8 -22 with the secondhand 33x12.5R15s I acquired from @Stu They will do until it's done, didn't want to buy fresh rubber only to have it sit around and dry rot. The dummy engine, an RB25DE that doesn't have all its insides, long story, but it will do for mockup. Put it in the engine bay, got a couple of bellhousing bolts in just to get the faces together so I could see where it would sit. Which meant this had to happen... I will be incoroporating a hatch in the top of the gearbox tunnel to allow access to the rear plug/coil. The hole has been somewhat refined since I took this photo, and will need to be further dependant on intake and exhaust manifolds. I plan on running a forward facing plenum, but a cut n' shut may hug the block more and work better, I am not sure yet. If anyone has a Greddy type FFP on a RB25DET, if you could measure the distance from the intake flange face to the furthermost away point at both the front and rear of the manifold, that would be super helpful and appreciated. Not the best photo, but you can sort of see clearances will be minimal on intake (driver) side, exhaust should be fine (I hope) Heaps of clearance to the radiator at least in this position, this is with it just sitting there behind the rad support panel. Going to pick up this beast of a tray this afternoon, it has been made to suit a Safari ute conversion already so the mounts suit, it's almost perfect! Just need to shorten it a little at the head board end. Even comes with a 200l auxilliary tank if I ever feel like having $500 fuel bills. So that saves a lot of work adapting the other tray I had for the mounts, and is waaaaay more solidly built than the tray I had, so I am happy. Did this, which makes clearance for the front wheel/tyre, may need further trimming, will check once I can flex/articulate it, once the body is mounted. Trimmed this also, will be getting a tube/plate bumper eventually which will follow that line. Took this one as I was leaving the shed one day as I thought it looked tough, but also shows the rad support chop. (If anyone wants to buy the little gas/gasless welder in the picture here for a reasonable price, message me, it is getting in the way at the moment since I bought my new setup). The body is sitting slightly higher than the final height here as it is on the hoist, and I lifted it up, because I was test fitting these: This was after the first chop just to see that they would fit in the space I made, they got refined more, then I tacked the top on: Still needs some more refining, and a mirror image made for the other side, but I have a bench sander turning up this week that will make the job easier (easier to sand interior curves/straight lines) so moved on temporarily, and painted the rear half of the chassis. Will do the front half when I take apart the front for a freshen up, which will be once I have the rear back together. Makes it easier to move about should I need to move it/get it off the hoist if it can still roll on one set of wheels. After sanding: After a coat of POR15: Painted to just in front of the lower trailing arm mounts, so I can get the back end back together completely without worrying about getting paint on anything. And that is essentially where I am up to! Got to go and pick up that tray now, let me know what you think in the discussion (linked at TOTP). -Hayden. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted August 2, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 2, 2019 Just thought I would update this just so it didn't disappear into the nevernever, but then realised I had actually made progress since I last posted on this thread. So firstly my excuses for not doing much... Got hit by a drunk driver, (he was speeding, no license, no WOF/reg since 2008, etc, real winner), lost control and crossed the centre line at well over 100kmh. Hit us and we did a barrel roll (at least one, not quite sure). Mum and our little dog were in the passenger seat, were mostly fine (Mum headbutted the window) but luckily avoided worse through sheer luck (it didn't actually land on her side at the front, went driver front, passenger rear, etc) and Mum held the dog as we went over so she came out unscathed. I however fractured my spine (roof came down to say hi to my head), luckily nothing too major as far as spinal injuries go (compression wedge fracture in my thoracic spine, loss of about 35% height on one side of one of the vertebra), but meant that I couldn't lift anything for what turned out to be about 3 1/2 months. Stupid thing was I was also reaaaallllly gutted about losing the van too (I know "it's just a vehicle, they're replacable, bla bla") but it was a 92 4WD 1KZ-TE Hiace Supercustom, and was fucking awesome. In really good nick, only 200,000kms on it (not a lot for one of them). Only had it about 5 months. Anywho, have mostly recovered from that (happened mid March), and then the other thing that has eaten my time is the tiny house in the background. Been working on it off and on, a lot of off while I did my study etc, for about 3 1/2 years, and it's finally almost done, move in in August is the goal. Will share photos in another thread at some point once it's finished and looks less like a building site. On to the ute, before the accident, I had actually made some progress and taken a few photos, so here goes: Bought adjustable arms for the rear, RAW shocks, Dobinson 4" lift springs, as well as an adjustable panhard rod, all roughly set up until I get the engine properly mounted and the front done so I can measure the angle on the output of the gearbox to get them equal. Sat the body on, and the shortened tray. Need to lower the cross bar to the height of the piece of timber that's clamped on there. Body is just sitting on the pieces of timber at the moment, but that puts it at the right height for everything to fit Mocked the front end up, tacked together the shs rad support so that I could mount up the radiator and intercooler (which is probably to small, will likely get on same thickness and width, just taller and notch the bumper so it sits in, then holesaw the front for airflow. Have done a bunch of research, small jobs, bits and pieces etc, since then, but not a lot. Once the container is done in the coming month, this will start getting time and money thrown at it again. I desperately need to get some paint on it soon (probably just primer until I have everything properly mounted and can do the bodywork), as the fine rust film on it is getting less fine, and it is a Datsun. A big part of going forward with this is getting the engine (RB25/30DET) so that will require some financing, hopefully in the form of selling my Mitsubishi Challenger. If anyone knows of one, preferably a runner as I don't want to do a refresh on it (for the sake of time/expense) at this stage, let me know. Also need to order some parts from Superior Engineering in 'Straya, so that is gonna cost some money too. Let me know what you think in the discussion thread: Cheers, Hayden. 28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted September 30, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 30, 2019 Only a page 4 thread dredge, definitely not the worst I have ever done... So I did some more work, and spent some more/a lot more money. Bought this: RB25DET Neo, rebuilt as far as sealing the engine, i.e sump and oil pump not properly in, just keeping things covered. Forgot to get a photo of where it is now but is more complete, has throttle body, water lines, alternator, power steering pump. Have purchased a new timing kit (belt, idlers etc), needs a new oil pump as the gears on the one that came with it are showing signs of wear. Thanks to some helpful advice I have decided to stick with a standard pump with new Reimax gears, so that should be sufficient as this won't spend too much time on limiter like it would in a drift car etc. Have new coils (in pic) but am considering a wasted spark setup, as these have a rep for overheating the rearmost coil, and this will be tucked in behind the firewall, so could potentially be worse. Got the right brackets for the mounts finally sorted, from an RD28 powered Patrol. Other than that, It needs a new clutch (considering just an Exedy HD rather than a button or puk clutch due to driveability), need a new harmonic balancer/crank pulley (didn't come with one even though it was meant to, but such is life). I have a turbo manifold on the way this week and the Masterpower turbo can be seen chilling up on the toolbox in the back. Should be good for roughly 350-400hp if I do it all correctly, I will, at least initially, be happy with anything over 300hp atw. So while the engine is waiting on me to throw money at it (mostly the clutch so I can properly bolt it up, oil pump can be done in place), I continued removing firewall now I knew exactly how far the intake would come out from the engine. Marked it up with dazzle, then cut it out, didn't get photos of the fresh cut, but it made the floor fairly weak haha, there isn't a whole lot of original firewall left at this stage. So i put 20x3 flat bar around the perimeter, and plug/stitch welded it in for strength. Strengthened it up heaps. Original mounting plate for the steering column stuck out into the intake area, so cut that. That whole area still needs work so that the cover for the back of the engine (that I will make shortly) can be removed without having to unbolt the steering column, and so they both have enough space and fasteners to make a proper seal. Made some plates and closed in some holes that will no longer be needed for the clutch master, brake master, choke, etc. Needs tidying up, but I ran out of time on Sunday so it got some primer to keep it covered in the meantime. Pedal box will likely be a Wilwood floor mounted pedal box. Put the dash in chocked up with a bit of wood to see what clearance I had vertically and behind the dash for a heater box of some description, the stock one will most definitely never fit again. Likely use something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32968868437.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.c0973c005VMSGm&mp=1 It's compact and will do for windscreen defrost and pushing air through the vents, will just have all working at the same time to eliminate the need for any sort of directional matrix, and run the standard valve to determine the temp. I am trying to decide whether to try and make a scoop to direct air from the intake up under the dash or just blank it off and have it only recirculate internal air. Got a bit of time in the shed yesterday arvo and decided to try the intercooler that came with the new engine. Just tied on to the rad support at the moment. Cut a whole lot more plastic out of the grill and it sort of fits, good enough anyway. It is about twice the overall volume of the original so should be a bit better. Have made a good start on the body mounts, it is sitting on two of them at the moment plus propped at the front, but need to sort the rest. Will get them all tacked in, then get them checked by the local certifier, and get someone with more expertise than myself to buzz them in. However, forgot to get any photos of these. Damn. If anyone can help with advice or knows of someone with any of the parts listed above, then hit me up. Chur, Hayden. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted October 8, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 8, 2019 Not even off page 1 and already time for an update! Whaka yeah! Bought a turbo manifold, seems pretty ok? Like is new, which is good but has obviously been sitting for a bit before being freshly powdercoated and sent to me, but will allow the attachment of the hairdryer for the turbo noises and that's what really matters. Is strong too so should be cool. Bolted manifold to engine, bolted turbo to manifold, clocked turbo. Bottom of both A-pillars looked like this. Then they looked like this... Cut the rust riiiiiight back. Most of this I am fairly certain was caused by poorly repaired rust at the top of the A-pillars, which allowed water behind the windscreen sea at the top, down the pillars, and then pooled in the wiper tray. Still needs a fettling and tidy up, but all 3 skins are in and replaced and strong af. didn't remember to get a photo of the passenger side but that's done too. Also in the above photo you can see the *ahem* clearancing needed for the turbo and manifold, this is fine as this area isn't occupied by wheel and tyre, as they stick way outside the factory guards. I will close this in with sheet steel shortly. Should be getting the pieces of steel I have had cut up for the body mounts today, been getting a really good deal on these through the engineer we use for work, he cuts them out of steel he has and just charges me the rate they pay for steel, no cost for cutting or anything. The labour may or may not get charged to whatever job we have going on at work at the time, but i wouldn't be surprised haha. A lot easier and more accurate than doing it myself, I don't have a bandsaw so I have to cut everything with an angle grinder, which isn't the best for parts I want to match perfectly side to side. Also bought my clutch, so will bolt the engine to the gearbox, and that will be that (here's hoping). Also bought a flange for the turbo to start the downpipe, and a heater matrix to try and start looking at where that will fit and how it will all work. Plans for the next week: - Get flywheel surfaced, bolt up clutch. If I get the body mounts tacked up, take off body, remove gearbox, mate together. - Tack in remaining body mounts. - Finish engine cover frame. If I have any extra time, start to close in with panel steel. Have teed up a guy at work to do the final welding for the body mounts for some liquid refreshments. He is a good/ticketed welder so will be good to have confidence that the body won't fall off while I drive it down the road. Let me know what I am doing wrong/I am a fool for thinking I can get this frankenstein done for Nats 2020. On a serious note, anyone who can help/has suggestions to do with tuning/ecus/wiring, please hit me up. I am no expert on most things, but wiring is something I worry may be a serious stumbling block, and I don't know if I will have the money available in time to just pay someone else to do it. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted November 15, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 15, 2019 Well, Page 3... Rest assured heaps of work has been done on this, I'm just not sure how good I have been at taking photos. Got the body mounts all tacked up, and the tray welded back together Loaded them both up on the Lexus tow rig and dragged them into work one Saturday a few weeks back. Dropped the tray off to our resident sandblaster, had the whole thing blasted and epoxy primed, cost a grand total of 1x bottle of Jack Daniels, cheers work/Ian. Haha (Have since got it back, prepped it and as of yesterday is fully coated in black Raptor liner, loooks goooood, but forgot to grab a pic) Got the mounts welded in by a ticketed welder Bill from work (I know the ticket isn't so important/relevant but he is a much better welder than myself) took it by Shane Speight on the monday and got the ok on them, so I could go ahead and paint it. Got the flywheel and new clutch on, and finally got the engine in mated (ish, still need the last of the proper bolts) to the gearbox and one passenger side mount. Drivers side doesn't line up, only off by a little bit so will just make up a bracket between the block and factory mount, one of the jobs for this weekend. For the moment it is chocked up with an appropriate length of wood, custom yo. Put the body back over the top to do a final check for clearance, took a bit more off after this to make sure there is plenty of room for things to move. Put the intercooler pipes/joiners in to se what clearance issues I had for them. Cut as necessary, fold up patches, weld em in. Still more to do. That's part of this weekends jobs, worked on it last weekend but was doing paint stuff during the week (on the tray) so couldn't do any more because dust. Also semi-finished the removable rad support section, needs some more bits welded which are a lot easier to do now it is out. Got crush tubes welded in the rad support itself which I forgot to take photos of. Plans for the weekend are to finish the tray by cutting the aluminum checker (chequer?) plate to size as I have shortened the tray, and siliconing/riveting and screwing it down to finish it up. Other than that just more cutting, folding, welding, grinding etc, on panel steel. Might even make a start on the engine cover/firewall if I am lucky. Wish I had a bead roller to get some extra strength in this, but realistically it is probably all stronger than what I am cutting out as is. Chur, Hayden 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhangareiKE70 Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 Well, Page 4 dredge... BUT, I have been doing things. Like non-stop, really trying to get things moving on this. I have: -Made side steps/rock sliders, brush guard/flare extensions and a tube front bumper w/ winch cradle (not quite finished) -Almost finished the dog box to cover the rear of the engine. -Mostly rebuilt the front diff swivel seals/bearings/brakes (still waiting on some bits) -Bolted in 4' lift springs/refurbed radius arms/drop boxes etc. Panhard rod in to keep things centred, still need tie rod/drag link. -Made passenger seat plate/gearbox and transfer case covers (still have to do drivers side but that's the easy one, as passenger side needed clearance for transfer case lever. -Completely modified the firewall for Patrol steering column and made a plate to bolt in the Patrol column (still needs to be shortened at steering box end). -Made mounts for oil cooler and run AN lines to sandwich plate. -Made lines for catch can/mounted catch can. -Made funky cover for headlight hole that is now intercooler pipe routing (1 down, 1 to go). -Painted tray in Raptor black and reassembled, bolted to ute. -Installed bonnet latches, made mounting points for pins, installed pins. -Purchased a Wilwood pedal box and started mounting that. And probably lots of other little things, installed new TPS, had driveshaft loop made, etc. Just generally hemorrhaging money and time. I'm gonna just add a few photos here, and then properly update in the next few days. Getting any half decent pics where it is in the shed is difficult. (Dog box is a lot further along but apparently I completely forgot to take any photos) Cheers, Hayden. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted June 28, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 28, 2020 I am still working on this thing. Took some photos today as I dragged it out of the shed to turn it around to do some work on the drivers side. Don't judge me too harshly, obviously there a lot of things half done on this, but I reckon it's looking good. I call the look Mad Max meets prerunner. Next goal is to get all the bar work finished and drag it in to work to get it blasted and primed so I can put some raptor liner on it. 13 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted March 8, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 8, 2021 There has been a bit of progress on this, but not a whole lot tbh. The blasting mentioned in the last post as the guy from work who was going to do it took about 6 months off on ACC. He's back now though so I might go have a chat with him today and see what's doable for him. I have purchased some bits, but mostly all my time and money have been tied up in buying and now renovating my first home! The major plus side of which is I now have my own shed, and this got moved from my parents place to there about a month or so back. PFT that reminded me to do this, from 2012 when it was still on the road, transporting my mates trebuchet haha 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted September 6, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 6, 2021 Page 7 thread dredge... What has been done to this? Mostly, not much. I bought a house, rewired the shed, built a 16m long retaining wall, redid (full gut and reframe/line etc) the kitchen, redid the laundry, lots of landscaping, etc. Still a lot to do on the house, but through the bulk of the urgent stuff. So safe to say my spare time has been spent elsewhere. BUT! Lockdown 2.0 happened, and between sleeping in every day (how good) and just generally trying to give myself a bit of a break, I managed to (mostly) fully organise and clean up the shed, including the Datsun. I have had reason to look at reducing my stress load recently via a trip to the ol' doctorino, and I realised of all my projects, of which there are many, the Datsun is one of the few were I actually enjoy the process as well as the result. So I thought, screw it, I am going to start working on the Datsun again, even though it is by no means the most urgent project on the list. Just letting you know that I am missing some photos, as I got into a bit of a groove and just kept going, forgetting to take photos. So yeah, I cleaned and tidied the shed (as seen in the shed thread): Luckily I had had intended on doing this for quite a while/started and not finished many times, so had a good stock of brackets, hooks, rolling boxes etc. So I ordered some parts from some fantastic suppliers that were shipping in Level 4 (shoutout to Sticky Flanges in particular, very helpful), and got started on my exhaust system. Everything is tacked together atm as this was my first time ever actually firing up my TIG, and I have zero skill to put all of this together properly. Already had a 3" stainless cat (required for scratchbuilt cert/keep the planet happy), the Adrenalin R hotdog muffler, exhaust rubbers and some CNC cut stainless brackets for the mounts. Got a few metres of tube and some bends, plus a tractor flap: Aaaaaand, I completely forget to get any photos of the (semi) finished product. It comes up behind/beside the cab, just in front of the headboard, snakes down and under the cab and points forward to the dump pipe. I need some stainless v-bands and a couple more 45" bends to finish it up. Looks pretty cool IMO. Will have more photos up soon now I realise what photos I am missing haha. So that's exhaust sorted until I can afford more bits, thought I should do some intake while I was on the stainless train. Wanted a 4"' stainless snorkel, but nobody sells an off-the-shelf 4"staino snorkel for a RB swapped/Safari chassis swapped Datsun 720. Rude. So got a 4" snorkel kit, mocked it up: Good masking tape and packs of sanding disks that happen to be nearby make fit up a breeze haha. Only had to slightly trim the one 45" piece before it went up the pillar to get the angle right, pretty simple, masking tape in place, mark it, chop saw, clean up on belt sander and Bob is your father's brother. Big advantage to the boxey shape of the 720. There is a custom airbox inside the engine bay that it is pointing at, but that can be a future update as I forgot to get photos, but also I still need to replace the piece of inner guard I hacked out to make it fit. Anyway, made some brackets with some dimple dies, and just tek screwed it in place for now, will be riveted. Tack it together and voila: As you may have noticed, the roof rack/cage and front bumper have come off, there was a bit of downtime between the exhaust and the snorkel kit turning up. Essentially, one of the big next parts is to get the body blasted and primed, but a big part of that is to get as much of the major sheetmetal work finished as possible. If there is a few minor things, I don't mind doing them and spot priming, but I'd like to get the body sealed up mostly soonish. But part of that process is taking apart all the bar work to allow the body to come back off, so I may as well finish all of that up while I'm at it. Firstly, I took off the roof tray and side bars, finish welded all the bits that I couldn't get to in place, and flapped them back to a rough shape. (I will be going over all of the bar works welds/joins with the sander before it goes off to blasting) Then looked at mounting the winch into the bar. It's slightly offset but should be ok. If not I will just have to reweld the fairlead mount further across, then cover it with the number plate to keep me sane haha. It's just sitting in there for the moment, drilling holes and bolting it in is on the list for this weeks jobs, along with taking some meat out of the mounting plate, not too much as I used thicj steel to make it nice and strong, but it doesn't all need to be there, it's quite heavy haha. Also fully welded all the bits I couldn't get to while it was on the vehicle, and then flapped back the welds, other side pieces will go in shortly. Changed the side flare design too, a bit simpler and hopefully it works well. More to come soon hopefully as work is ongoing, I just need to remember to take photos. I am coming up to some parts that I know are beyond me (moreso than normal) when it comes to the actual mechanical side of things, hopefully I can con my old man into giving me a hand and get it done. 13 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted September 8, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 8, 2021 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. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WhangareiKE70 Posted September 15, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 15, 2021 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). 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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