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Those towers are 70 cm high, so I went over the the hardware store and got some spacers that worked. Yes, it is lame, but it is short-term.
Here is the seat installed
I can drive it, but barely.
And I better stay on my diet!
So, after a long hiatus, the poor old thing is back together enough to go for re-registration a year after the last scramble to get it registered. I'm actually not in Dubai at the moment so my friend and garage operator is helping me with this. They also had to do a bit of work to get the rear lights functioning and the gas leak taken care of. The former at least has been resolved.
Cosmetics it seems is important for RTA passing. I have been nervous about the swapping in of the UTE bed so one of the last things was to take the bed off and paint it to match the rest of the body.
When I get the truck to Florida, I probably will take the bed off again and really go through the frame and paint, etc.
But for now, I'm just crossing my fingers on getting the truck re-registered. If it fails and I can't sort it, I will ship the truck over to the US, where I know it will not have an issue being registered.
I am very pleased to share that Iota passed its Roads and Transport Authority inspection and is legal on the road with the big-ass UTE back!
Caveats were: "RIGHT SIDE FENDER ,FENDER FRAME REPAIRED. MINOR UNDER FLOOR GETTING RUSTY.FRONT BUMPER MODIFIED.FIXING OK.FIX FRONT
NUMBER PLATE PROPRLY.ASAP"
I had zip-tied the front plate on just before leaving for the US for the holidays.
It may seem like I am going in reverse, but we took the bed off again to address the chassis, fuel lines, and do some more repair to the UTE bed.
Most of the bad pits are gone:
It is still a bit rough and ready, but I like it
And I went by today to have a look. The paint booth is down but they put the bed on to get it out of the shop.
I think the truck is starting to look pretty sharp.
It has been a while since I last posted on Iota. Basically I've just been working on other things and the truck has been in underground parking. But now it is up for annual inspection plus I actually needed to use it for its intended purpose--as a parts truck. A couple of days ago I changed the headlights and put the running boards back on.
Those are new, OEM running boards pulled from pickups being converted to light armoured vehicles. I then painted them with truck bed liner. They are a bit dusty right now.
The running boards really are a bit improvement. They make getting in and out much easier.
Yesterday I went hunting for a sub fuel tank for the
Holy Truck--with Iota.
I was a little apprehensive because I had not driven the truck in the better part of a year, but it did just fine apart from a crapped out battery, and I succeeded in my mission:
And after a jump start, headed home.
BTW another salvage yard at 79 series fridge/compressor combos for about 800 USD
Obviously that will not fit in a 75 unfortunately, but it is a clever idea.
