plink01
SILVER Star
Hey guys I thought I'd make a build thread for my new 40. Mainly so I can ask stupid questions and keep a bit of history.
I bought this off an old guy who wasn't in the best shape. He had just had a triple bypass and was a bit over his head with his cars. He had three 40 series all in various stages of dismantled. I think his plan was he was going to make this 40 his best one coz it was an LX.
I bought it off him for $20,000 AUS, which I think turned out to be a pretty good deal. It came with a roadworthy certificate which are gold for a car this old. Our vehicle roadworthy laws appear to be way more intense then what you guys deal with in the States. Any major sign of rust has to be removed before you will be able to get the car registered, so for the car to come with the roadworthy makes it super easy for me to at least get it on the road.
I had been looking for a 40 for about a year or so and this one turned out to be exactly what I wanted. Any cheaper and generally they are full of rust and will need a body off restoration. Once you start getting around the $30,000 mark they are generally rust free and pretty original.
I didn't want an original 40, I would have felt too guilty modifying it. But I didn't want one that had been completely modified, I wanted to build it the way I wanted. So this one fit the bill perfectly, not 100% original but modified enough that I won't feel any guilt doing my thing. I was also happy the rear seats had already been removed, I didn't want them anyway but LX seats are crazy expensive now and I would have felt terrible removing them!
So I hired a car trailer and jumped in the 80 and did the 3 hour drive up the Hume Hwy to the New South Wales almost border town of Rutherglen to pick it up. I was a bit apprehensive, I had never towed another vehicle, and the 80 is already loaded to the hilt and would probably be close to its GVM as it is. We loaded it up and I took off taking it super easy. At first I was thinking 'what the hell am I doing!!?' It felt so f*%@#&g heavy! I was a bit worried about the clutch. But after an hour I started to relax a bit, the 80 actually towed it really well. I sat on about 85 - 90kmph the whole way home and stopped every half hour or so to check out the straps and made sure everything was going ok. It was a really long night but I was rapt that I got it home and I was super proud of the 80!
I had a small issue when I tried to register it, the previous previous owner never cancelled the registration on it. Even though it hadn't been on the road/registered for 5 years +, the registration was defined as 'expired.' I had done a vehicle check on it before I purchased it and I realised the rego was 'expired' but I had assumed that was all good, in my mind expired meant it is no longer registered and its free to register. But it isn't, it needed to be 'cancelled'. I nearly had a heart attack, my roadworthy certificate only lasted another week before it expired, which would have meant I would have had to organise another one. Half the reason I bought this car was because it came with the cert, none of the mechanics in my area would have certified it! So I rang the guy I bought it off and he drove around to the guy he bought it off and got him to cancel the registration. Lucky the guy still had the same address!
So I tried again the next day and it was a success! My dad is part of a car club and because the car is over 25 years it qualifies for 'club rego.' It's like a historical registration, it means I save $700 a year on registration but I can only drive it for 90 days a year and I have to fill a little log book out every time I drive it. 90 days should be enough, I ride my bike to work and I've still got the 80 so it shouldn't be a drama.
The car itself is a 1982 BJ42 LX. It has 356410km's on the clock. Its a 3B with the 4 speed. The plan is to keep it looking fairly clean and pretty basic. The 80 is my luxury camping car, this one is going to be a bit more back to basics. I will be taking it 4 wheeling a lot and its going to be used for what it was designed for. It will be doing medium to difficult sorts of tracks, mainly in the Victorian high country.
So far all I've done to it is change the oil and filter, fuel filter and airfilter. I replaced the bonnet latches and bought some cheap s*** Chinese mirrors. The mirrors were a massive waste of money, the glass is all warped and I feel like an idiot for buying them. I'm gonna blow a heap of money on some OEM ones.
The plan is short term to completely service all serviceable parts and fluids, the front diff is leaking pretty badly from the swivel housing so I'm going to overhaul both sides. Maybe get the diff housing sandblasted while I'm at it and re spray it. Im gonna order one of those Hell for Stout bumpers from the States and put a high mount Warn on it. An OME 2 inch lift and the widest 33inch BF KM3's I can fit on it without having to trim the guards. I think 10.5 is the widest I can put on from what I've read on here??
Once that's done I'll be ready to start taking it out in the bush.
Medium term I'll be putting some draws in the back and a fridge slide for my Engel. a Piranha dual battery tray. I'll be chucking a snorkel on it, I'm waiting for YOYOHO, a guy from this forum to finish making up some for the 3B. The safari snorkles are all mounted on the left, but the 3b air intake is on the right. I don't want to run the hose all the way across the engine. I'll be putting a long range tank in the back, an aussie locker in the rear, a really low profile roof rack with some spotties on it and maybe an awning.
Long term I want to find a 13bt for an engine swap and a full body respray. Maybe a 5 speed, I sort of like the 4 speed at the moment though. I'm hoping the 33's will increase my top speed just a bit. If anyone hears of any 13bt's in AUS floating about let me know!
So yeah that's the plan! Now for some photos.
I bought this off an old guy who wasn't in the best shape. He had just had a triple bypass and was a bit over his head with his cars. He had three 40 series all in various stages of dismantled. I think his plan was he was going to make this 40 his best one coz it was an LX.
I bought it off him for $20,000 AUS, which I think turned out to be a pretty good deal. It came with a roadworthy certificate which are gold for a car this old. Our vehicle roadworthy laws appear to be way more intense then what you guys deal with in the States. Any major sign of rust has to be removed before you will be able to get the car registered, so for the car to come with the roadworthy makes it super easy for me to at least get it on the road.
I had been looking for a 40 for about a year or so and this one turned out to be exactly what I wanted. Any cheaper and generally they are full of rust and will need a body off restoration. Once you start getting around the $30,000 mark they are generally rust free and pretty original.
I didn't want an original 40, I would have felt too guilty modifying it. But I didn't want one that had been completely modified, I wanted to build it the way I wanted. So this one fit the bill perfectly, not 100% original but modified enough that I won't feel any guilt doing my thing. I was also happy the rear seats had already been removed, I didn't want them anyway but LX seats are crazy expensive now and I would have felt terrible removing them!
So I hired a car trailer and jumped in the 80 and did the 3 hour drive up the Hume Hwy to the New South Wales almost border town of Rutherglen to pick it up. I was a bit apprehensive, I had never towed another vehicle, and the 80 is already loaded to the hilt and would probably be close to its GVM as it is. We loaded it up and I took off taking it super easy. At first I was thinking 'what the hell am I doing!!?' It felt so f*%@#&g heavy! I was a bit worried about the clutch. But after an hour I started to relax a bit, the 80 actually towed it really well. I sat on about 85 - 90kmph the whole way home and stopped every half hour or so to check out the straps and made sure everything was going ok. It was a really long night but I was rapt that I got it home and I was super proud of the 80!
I had a small issue when I tried to register it, the previous previous owner never cancelled the registration on it. Even though it hadn't been on the road/registered for 5 years +, the registration was defined as 'expired.' I had done a vehicle check on it before I purchased it and I realised the rego was 'expired' but I had assumed that was all good, in my mind expired meant it is no longer registered and its free to register. But it isn't, it needed to be 'cancelled'. I nearly had a heart attack, my roadworthy certificate only lasted another week before it expired, which would have meant I would have had to organise another one. Half the reason I bought this car was because it came with the cert, none of the mechanics in my area would have certified it! So I rang the guy I bought it off and he drove around to the guy he bought it off and got him to cancel the registration. Lucky the guy still had the same address!
So I tried again the next day and it was a success! My dad is part of a car club and because the car is over 25 years it qualifies for 'club rego.' It's like a historical registration, it means I save $700 a year on registration but I can only drive it for 90 days a year and I have to fill a little log book out every time I drive it. 90 days should be enough, I ride my bike to work and I've still got the 80 so it shouldn't be a drama.
The car itself is a 1982 BJ42 LX. It has 356410km's on the clock. Its a 3B with the 4 speed. The plan is to keep it looking fairly clean and pretty basic. The 80 is my luxury camping car, this one is going to be a bit more back to basics. I will be taking it 4 wheeling a lot and its going to be used for what it was designed for. It will be doing medium to difficult sorts of tracks, mainly in the Victorian high country.
So far all I've done to it is change the oil and filter, fuel filter and airfilter. I replaced the bonnet latches and bought some cheap s*** Chinese mirrors. The mirrors were a massive waste of money, the glass is all warped and I feel like an idiot for buying them. I'm gonna blow a heap of money on some OEM ones.
The plan is short term to completely service all serviceable parts and fluids, the front diff is leaking pretty badly from the swivel housing so I'm going to overhaul both sides. Maybe get the diff housing sandblasted while I'm at it and re spray it. Im gonna order one of those Hell for Stout bumpers from the States and put a high mount Warn on it. An OME 2 inch lift and the widest 33inch BF KM3's I can fit on it without having to trim the guards. I think 10.5 is the widest I can put on from what I've read on here??
Once that's done I'll be ready to start taking it out in the bush.
Medium term I'll be putting some draws in the back and a fridge slide for my Engel. a Piranha dual battery tray. I'll be chucking a snorkel on it, I'm waiting for YOYOHO, a guy from this forum to finish making up some for the 3B. The safari snorkles are all mounted on the left, but the 3b air intake is on the right. I don't want to run the hose all the way across the engine. I'll be putting a long range tank in the back, an aussie locker in the rear, a really low profile roof rack with some spotties on it and maybe an awning.
Long term I want to find a 13bt for an engine swap and a full body respray. Maybe a 5 speed, I sort of like the 4 speed at the moment though. I'm hoping the 33's will increase my top speed just a bit. If anyone hears of any 13bt's in AUS floating about let me know!
So yeah that's the plan! Now for some photos.
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