RX3UTE rebirth - throwback thing build

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Panel n paint progress…

 

ooosh

 

blocked right back, and into primer.

 

 

 

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Rainy day stuffs today.

stripped back the factory loom to salvage the plugs. Labels everything as it got cut away.

 

seems pretty easy. Just need to figure out the flasher set up cos it was unplugged. 
 

then cos it was still pissing down I decided to strip the heater box, remove the heater core, test the fan and scrub and respray the entire housing. 
came up great.

 

did the same with the headlight buckets and mounts. 

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So just been told that the ute will be painted on Monday. So much fizz is fizzing 

 

Anywho….

i managed to get the landlord to replace the clearlite roofing in the shop. MASSIVE upgrade!!

so much light now, I actually had to wear sunnies in there today while we moved shit around.

 

got my spot sorted for the ute to return to with a wide berth around it .

did a full reshuffle of everything which the worker loved….not.

 

then I decided to achieve something and fitted my seat mounts and mock up the doubler plates.

the main seat mounts bolts to the factory rail, then on the floor there is a 10mm riser which bolts to the doubler plate with countersunk 5mm bolts and will have the nuts welded to the bottom. 
both plates will sandwich the floor. The seat mounts sits on these as the floor is corrugated, so I decided to lift the bases.

i feel it came up mint.

do let me know if there will be issues with these. 
 

also my fuel cell arrived and have just ordered new door locks with keys and clips. 
 

still need a speed flow 200 series -10an 180 hose end to complete the oil system. 

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To the booth!!!!!!

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In the booth , will be pulled apart tomorrow and final prep for painting

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It’s in colour now. And OMG!! 
 

the next 4-5 weeks will be stressful putting this back together without scratching it to death 

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Just gonna leave this here.

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Managed to get into the shop for a couple of hours today.

so started throwing the wiring back in it.

 

decided to chop the original headlight crossover loom off the ute loom and reuse that.

spliced in at the original splice point.

wired up the front lights, fitted the rear lights. Only need to wire up the plate lights, dash and controls and get source wiring into the fuse box. 
 

been looking over it, there are a fair few minor imperfections in the paint, but I’m not to fazed, it’ll make me feel better to just drive it more

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Was given a few more hours to do shed things.

finished the front end wiring.

forgot to loom in for the washer bottle and fan feed, fuk, just made a new loom and added in an extra wire as a spare.

so finished refitting the headlights, fitted the chrome eyebrow chromes , grille and bezels. 
fitted the rear plate and plate lights.

 

so that’s all body wiring complete.

although I did wire up the coils and tach feed. 
 

test fitted the dash, mega porn warning.

cant wait to get the wiring completed. Not too much left.

 

fit the fuel cell and fuel pump

fuel lines/fittings etc

fit seats

carpet and underlay

brake lines (daunting task)

brake hoses, pads etc

speed sensor

find the little glovebox button (lost 1hr looking for it)

install engine/box/driveshaft etc

radiator and hoses

oil cooler hoses

starter cables/grounds etc

brake and clutch masters

tyres onto my dream wheels

spacers for the back

fit deck panels

deck flooring

all glass

fit door hardware

interior panels

exhaust

handbrake cable and handbrake

centre console thingy maybe

 

 

 

fuck me that’s a list for 3 weeks left and a 5 day camping trip to waste some of it. 

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Assembled the doors today.

new rubbers for the glass slider thing bits (makes it tight and quite stiff to operate now) hopefully it’ll loosen over time.

fitted the new door locks and weather strips.

glass got cleaned and 1/4 windows refitted. But if a shame the rubbers for these are a little nasty.

fitted the new inner door rubbers, but Jesus the doors have to be slammed to get it to latch. Please tell me they will flatten quickly. 
 

also started connecting wires. Got the headlight/park light circuit finished.

 

piss easy seeing as I landed everything. 
boy thing I need to figure out now is how to set it up to run a solenoid to turn on the fuse box on acc. 

the constant 12v (key, hazard circuit, park lights) will be fused between the circuit breaker and fuse box. 
 

hope that’s right. 
 

would love a hand with this wiring stuff to make sure it is right.

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Knees weak, arms are heavy, there’s vomit on my sweater already , from this goddam spaghetti…

 

ugh almost there.

 

just need to wire up all the power feeds into the dash/switches etc.

need to find a constant power solenoid to run the secondary fuse block.

now that I’m running the IC7 haltec dash, I now have 2 more spare wires in the loom.

Also fully completed the drivers door with inner handles and trim. It’s niiiiice.

Found a few places for the shiney rotor bolts.

 

found that I can’t run the drop tank as it only gives 100mm of clearance, not keen on that really.

so will keep that for the other ute and revert back to the old tank and just try and make it work. 

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A little more wiring progress.

ran the haltec pre terminated leads into the engine bay for coolant/fuel pressure and oil 

wired up the fan relay and ignition switch.

Installed the heater box (only a blower now)

loom taped the looms.

ran the power feed wires down to the fuse panel area.

only need to wire up the handbrake once that’s installed, along with the speed sensor (see question in tech spam)

and alternator light/excite. 
 

jaycar/supercheap didn’t stock any warning lights for the alternator. So dumb.

didnt try repco so that’s tomorrow’s job. But I did get a diode for it to stop backfeeding.

stole my airbag compressor solenoid to run the acc fuse box, just need to find the nuts for it, ugh. 
 

can’t go pictureless so here’s my dash with the haltec usb/lan socket fitted into the dash panel haha.

had a hole there so thought why not. 
that was the lighter socket port. The one next to it was the choke, so a light for the alternator will go in there. Haltec don’t have this feature in the dash yet from what I can tell. Think it shows voltage but not a charge light. 

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Trimmed up the inner cab today with some help from the Mrs.

overall I’m not stoked with it tbh. My knife/scissors wasn’t cutting it and made a few ugly joins which I need to tidy.

but that’ll have to wait till after Nats. Just no time.

put the roof panel up. Really happy with it but the stupid clips keep failing . So I may end up having to have an external clip which annoys me. 
 

got the drivers seat mount finished off with the doubler plates. 
will do the passengers tomorrow. 
 

also finalised the fuse panel layout with the extra fuse block, ran the power leads to the battery.

just need to trim the back panel, refit the electrical components, fit it into the ute for the last time, wire up all connections and that’ll only leave the engine bay wiring, handbrake and speed sensor to wire up. 
 

may do a test of the lights to see if it’ll burn to the ground first.

mrs took some pics while I was busting nut on the interior.

then before we left I sat my dream wheel next to the ute for a bit of motivation, and promptly blew load.

love it!!!

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Almost finished with the interior work. 
this includes the wiring.

only have the earths to complete and the alternator light and brake switch.

carpets with underfelt , console and seatbelts if I’m feeling safety is a good idea.

so much left to do, so little time

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Not looking likely that I will make this deadline.

off camping with the tribe of ungratefuls. 
will only have 8 evenings to get this finished. 
 

all brake lines/hoses

engine/box

deck panels and windscreen/rear glass install. 
and sort the speed sensor, fuel tank and lines and decking. 
 

dammit

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First day back to work….. on the ute.

 

got the RX3 centre console and handbrake installed.

only need an extended cable made to go from the lever to the splitter.

may just use a cable clamp for now to get it usable.

booked in the screen installation.

mounted the brake and clutch masters.

now the painful task to try and make lines.

 

 

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I finished the brake lines!!!!!

only have the brake hose mounts to weld into the diff to complete this, then bleed it up.

clutch needs to be an AN line with a 90 degree fitting off the master. 
 

I used BG familia rear hoses on the back.

then the Mrs gave me a hand to drop the motor in.

 

i also found a pin hole in the factory fuel tank just as I went to install it, that got yeeted the fuck out into the yard.

so then I spent too long trying to get the fuel cell fitted up.

finished the fuel lines, pump and just need to finish the tank mounts.

 

didnt want a tank visible inside the deck, dammit.

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Oops forgot the pic of the tank.

not going for a big tank. The hunter ends up having stale arse fuel in it as it is. Don’t want stale premix in this.

better to fill more often

 

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Radiator and pump installed, wired and plumbed (still need hose clamps, oops).

 

made a new set of headers that run into towards centre of the ute, then goes off to the flexi and resonators, still to be finished. 
 

carb and accelerator cable finished. 
alternator fitted but looks off line (hmm copied off the Franklin plate so yeah, cool, none of their alt kit works).

 

4 days left