A Zimbos Guide to building an FJ45... TAKE 2!! (1 Viewer)

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You got me there, jou bliksem! I forgot about that little problem. Can you imagine our guy trying to figure out a bar bill in Zim dollars.

"Twenty three thousand...three million...two hundred and three trillion...??! ...six hundred and seventy two cents!! HE-He-He" Shuffle-shuffle.

Africa. The greatest continent in the world and bigger than the rest of the world. I'm NOT leaving.
 
You got me there, jou bliksem! I forgot about that little problem. Can you imagine our guy trying to figure out a bar bill in Zim dollars.

"Twenty three thousand...three million...two hundred and three trillion...??! ...six hundred and seventy two cents!! HE-He-He" Shuffle-shuffle.

Africa. The greatest continent in the world and bigger than the rest of the world. I'm NOT leaving.
they'd have to put an AK to my back to get me out, and even then, im pretty sure i could sneak back in anyways :D

you know what they say, once the soil is in your blood, its not coming out. and if your born into it, then you've really had it!
 
Great built and nice looking Cruiser! I'm just south of the border in Gaborone with minor restoration to my BJ40. Trying to keep it original. I say all those rusty 40 series there. Do you ever come across a set of seats?
 
Great built and nice looking Cruiser! I'm just south of the border in Gaborone with minor restoration to my BJ40. Trying to keep it original. I say all those rusty 40 series there. Do you ever come across a set of seats?

im actually looking to part with my set of seats. its the driver seat and the seat and half passenger that makes a bench seat in the front. They were recovered with elephant skin leathe by the PO as well.
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im actually looking to part with my set of seats. its the driver seat and the seat and half passenger that makes a bench seat in the front. They were recovered with elephant skin leathe by the PO as well.
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I'd be interested. Sent you a private message so let me know if we can make it happen.
 
been a while, heres a picture update of the 45:

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put in some new aftermarket gauges that help keep an eye on the 12HT. The tacho is a great addition. was amazed to see after calibration that i hardly ever push past 2000rpm, and then when i do its only to 2500rpm. this engine just has so much grunt you dont need to rev her.
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new voltmeter and usb charging station. plus two new gauges, a temp which i still want to plumb into my radiator and a vacuum gauge just to help me see that my turbo is spooling correctly. unfortunately they didnt have an actual boost gauge at the time i bought these
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the 45 has a new friend, who is getting her old 2F
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last trip up the gomo before i played around with the load tray

thats a nav beacon that my friends surf is up against. its the local challenge, to touch the beacon. its quite a tricky thing to do as there is a lot of articulation you need to have in order not to bottom anything out, and although i know my 45 would definitely make it up, im not the driver to do it! ive just worked too hard to have anything happen to her
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a few pics of the lift i put on the tray plus the adjustment to the roll bar and the cheapo side steps i made to finish off the cab lines better. also added a bull bar.

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Looking good mate
 
attempted to replace my hilux PS box with a OEM 40 one:

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that didnt work at all. will have to open up the OEM to figure out whats wrong with it.

also took some pics of my 45 in the exact same spot almost exactly 1 year later

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June 2017:View attachment 1477302

a few big changes. the stance is way better now, and will be even better when i get my new tyres. the seats are a big improvement for comfort too. the changes too the load tray roll bar make it look a lot more sleek and of course the bull bar scares even the dumbest taxi drivers out of my way ( if you've ever been to southern Africa you'll get why this is important)

biggest change of course has been this:
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man what an engine!
 
update time

finally finished up putting the old 2F into this 45, as well as a oem ps box and saginaw pump install.
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put new input and output seals in my transfer. man do i wish i had the big tranny cover you guys in the states have. then i could remove the whole gear box and transfer without having to either pull the engine or the tub.

also put in my new seat belts. feels weird having belts now. but glad to have em.
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got out the jigsaw and made up a new center console. its a little on the thin side due to the wide seats, but it turned out nice and is plenty big enough to hold most anything. and who doesnt like a bit of wood in their 40? if only i had noticed that glue running sooner :rolleyes:
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also had a partial lunar eclipse last night. our 4x4 group chat was going nuts with everyone running outside to look at the moon

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one of the gems from our group. guy who posted this up is a proper cruiser head, but a 70 series guy. he makes his living fixing rolled 75's and dropping 1VD's, the 4.5 turbo diesel v8, into them.
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right, so, wiring...

now im an electrician by trade, to be more exact, a heavy power technician. that means i handle AC with loads usually over the 1000 A mark.
that being said, most of job is designing and drawing circuits.

for a while now, the wiring in my 45 has been bothering me. its a birds nest of badly spliced, unfused cables just waiting for an over current to catch fire. the problem is that i have continuous added stuff over the past year, hacking into existing circuits to get what i need done. well, now im tired of it, and am going to do something about it.

so heres my first sketch of all the systems i currently have and how i plan on running them.

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and heres the circuit correctly drawn up in CAD and labelled with cable markings.

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and heres the physical layout of what my dash will look like. once again, im going to be cutting up my dash to give it my own look and feel. all of the switches will be metal toggle switches. and the second panel shows my fuse holders. these will be mounted in a panel attached to the bottom of the dash for easy access.

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hoping to get it done this weekend before monday, as am planning on taking the 45 up the big rock again.
 
So, day one of the wiring over haul.

Cutting out and preparing the new panels
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Painting up the new panel
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And switch gear installed
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Missing one switch bc the shop miscounted when they gave me my stuff. A bit annoying but nothing major.

And fuse panel all set to be wired
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Day two.

Panels all together. Loving the new look.
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The radio will now also be installed in this panel, so will complete the new modernized look.

Started the wiring with the fuse panel
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All correctly lugged, crimped, and marked.

Then started the wiring on the main panel
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The back of the panel includes the relays that will switch the main circuits.

And a picture to show just what kind of mess the back of my dash was to begin with
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Glad I'm doing this overhaul. Will make the can feel like new, and be a lot safer and neater from now on
 
If inclined, there are weather proof rubber covers available for those metal switches. I put one on 25 years ago to keep water and dirt out of an added switch and it's still going strong. No idea if today's (likely made in China) would last as long.
 
If inclined, there are weather proof rubber covers available for those metal switches. I put one on 25 years ago to keep water and dirt out of an added switch and it's still going strong. No idea if today's (likely made in China) would last as long.

i went back after everything was together and put heat shrink over all the exposed contact points. should do the job nicely
 
day three.

Finished up the dash and did some troubleshooting. As always, something had to niggle but got there in the end.

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Took the roof off as well to enjoy this wonderful time of year in zim. It's getting hot again and rains are still months away.

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Monday and Tuesday were a public holiday so a whole bunch of us went and climbed the gomo again.

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A great time had by all.
 
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Random web photo of similar.
i went back after everything was together and put heat shrink over all the exposed contact points. should do the job nicely

The covers I'm thinking of were for the front/exposed side to make keep rain water out... or water out when you're hosing out the interior.
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