Build Mouldy Mario gets defoliated.

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I also managed to get a couple of hours in the shed tonight after the kids had gone to bed. I spoke with my parts supplier during the day about rebuilding the front axle and brakes. He asked what the condition of the pistons in the brake calipers was like. So I pulled down the driver's side. Two of the pistons were frozen solid, which might account for why the brakes didn't work.

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You can see how water has got by the outer seal. The square-cut seal seems to have done a pretty good job. I'm going to run the callipers down to the local brake place and talk about how best to clean them. There's a fair bit of crud in the passages, but it is soft and greasy and seems to clean out easily enough with a bit of compressed air.

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I also picked up my epoxy undercoat and top coat for the chassis and axles. The epoxy is tinted black and should help hide stone chips. The top coat was recommended to me by my local auto paint bloke. It is a 2-pac semi-gloss industrial paint with the matting agent built in by Glasurit when it is manufactured, rather than added at the point of sale. Apparently, it provides a consistent gloss level and also offers a much longer shelf life than conventional 2-pac paints. He said that the binding agent in conventional 2-pac paints, settles to the bottom of the can and goes hard. So you get limited shelf life and if you leave the can sitting around for a couple of weeks the gloss level can vary. The paint supplier is good bloke and this sounded plausible enough.

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I got out to the shed for a short session this evening. Not much to show other than pulling down the passenger side brake calliper. Once again pretty rusty and gunged up. I was hoping to re-use, at least a some of the pistons but they were stuck fast and I manage to score then pretty badly pulling them, so it looks like new pistons. Before I wrestled the pistons out I pumped compressed air into the calliper and couldn't get any of the pistons to activate. Couple of shots of the progress......

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Hit up a good brake shop mate, they'll know in about a second if they're worth saving.
 
The ute tub should line on all but the two mounts be
Pauciflora said:
G'day Guys,

I couple more quick pics before I call it a night. You might notice the flat bed has been replaced by a style side tub or ute body. I picked this up for $50 in the hills of East Gippsland. I thought the bloke I got it from was running a wrecking business, because there was cars and trucks and crap as far as the eye could see. It turns out he was just hoarded stuffed and I spotted this among the weeds as I drove passed and knocked on his door. Deal done. You beauty.

It came from FJ45 or HJ45, the holes in the tub don't line up Mario's chassis. Not a major issue, it needs to be pulled to bits and should fit pretty well with a bit of love.

Cheers,

Ben

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All the rear ute tube holes should line up on the hj47 chassis but the two right behind cab will be different from memory there a bit wider on the 47.
 
cult45 said:
Hit up a good brake shop mate, they'll know in about a second if they're worth saving.
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G'day Cult,

I took your advice and headed down to our local brake man this afternoon and showed him the callipers. He said they would be fine. Apparently, the pistons essentially float in the bores. The important surfaces are the pistons themselves and the square-cut rubber seals.

He also gave me a bit of advice, that I thought was interesting. He said if you are re-using the pistons make sure the mating surface between the piston and the disc pad is square. This way the piston will push the pad squarely against the disc.....better brakes, better pad life. Apparently, just a bit of a touch up with a file is all the piston faces will need, if you happened to score them up while removing them.
 
alberta mac said:
Love it ! a real beauty with low kms !
Now you'll have to repaint your travel trailer ! :)
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G'day Alberta Mac, I've been reading a few reports about the fires at Fort McMurray. Terrible business, 2000 homes lost and 88,000 people evacuated. That sort of carnage changes communities and effects people for generations. Bush fires are a bastard. Cheers, Ben
 
Not much to report. I got out to the shed tonight for a few hours and finished pulling down the swivel hubs. It was easy enough job, although getting the knuckle arms off the top of the knuckles was a bugger. Lots of jiggling, belting with hammers and walloping stuff.

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