My 47 build

[Johnstone]

This is my 1984 HJ47 that I've pieced together from a few different utes. It all started with my brother buying a real nice, tidy 47 and crashing it, bending the cab on one side. It had a rebuilt 2H and hadn't long been resprayed. The place he was working on had a spare cab, so we started to fix it up and swap it over, but one day the handbrake failed on his HDJ79 ute, and it rolled into the cab and wrecked it as well.

Fast forward a couple of years and I saw a 47 for sale in Blackall, about 430 kays away from Home (Clermont, Qld). I offered old mate 1200 bucks, and a mate and I ended up going for a drive after the local rodeo (read: very seedy that day) and picking it up.

The cab was pretty good on it, but the chassis was buggered. The 2H out of it I sold to my mate to get his HJ75 going, and he later cooked that motor as well (he is a rough man on 2H's, onto his 3rd one now). So I ended up getting the remains of my brothers HJ47, and started putting it all together.

This is her after we picked it up in Blackall

And this is on top of the Drummond Range on the way home. Towed it with my mates HDJ79 ute

 

[Johnstone]

Stripped the chassis down from my brothers ute, and did some strengthening/repairs to it, esp. around the rear cross-member, which was pretty rusty. The new rear cross-member should also prevent the back of the chassis from cracking out from towing like alot of them seem to. It was all done with 100x50 6mm (4x2x1/4")

Pulling the rebuilt 2H out

Me (left) after cutting the old cross-member out

Another mate getting ready to run a few beads

Tacked up ready to weld. Also boxed in the end of the rail (completed the 'c')

Then got it sandblasted..

And painted in gloss 2pac black

 

[Johnstone]

I had about 2 months before I started University, so not everything went together pretty, although I made sure everything was right mechanically. I.e. swivel hubs, wheel bearings, replaced the oils etc. Didn't worry about the motor/gearbox too much because I had different plans for the power plant. Anyway, stripped the donor cab and had the tub, front&rear screen surrounds painted in 464. I had doors (steel), guards and a bonnet (fibreglass) that had already been painted 464, so I used them-I will eventually repaint the doors, steel guards and bonnet and put back on this ute. The bonnet and doors were elsewhere at the time, so I used the multi-coloured panels just to get me going.

Stripped the donor cab for paint

Started bolting bits on the chassis

Cab back on, and got the front diff back in after this too

Back surround on. Like my massive shed?

Finishing bolting the cab together and had some mates help throw the tray on

Her the next morning. Left to go to university later that afternoon in Townsville. My mate (an auto leccy) had her at his work for a few months just bolting bits and pieces on, and sorting out the wiring. Ended up combining about 3 hacked/burnt out harnesses to make one good one

 

[Johnstone]

My mate got a windscreen put in it, put all the dash in it, bolted up mudflaps etc. After about 6 months I brought it home again to finish it off.

Test fitting the ARB bar, had to cut a fair bit of rust out of each side (after this photo) but it came up pretty well. Spotlights are Rallye 4000's with Phillips HID's that I got given. Mate put H4 headlights in it out of a hj60 I had, and also put in a headlight wiring upgrade&relay, as well as better bulbs.

Dash in. Alot of people hate the green, but I quite like it. Something different

New windscreen

Cat Diesel Power mudflaps. If anyone can find these white ones let me know! I'd love some new ones

 

[Johnstone]

This is her at home with one of the parts donor cars, and her next to my brothers VDJ79

 

[Johnstone]

Did a bit more work to it, and finally got it registered! It's got a 3.7 diff in the rear (haven't got around to changing it yet). With the 2h, 4 speed I get about 15.3l/100km at 100 kays an hour, and 13.6l/100 around town

Polished up these rims and put them on, the old ones must have been porous and were leaking

This'll do to keep the battery box there? Haha. Has room for 2 n70's. I put the main battery in here to create more room in the engine bay, and I would have had to move it eventually anyway

A couple of hj45s. Styleside belongs to my mate now. Genuine, but very rough 60,000 kays on it

First day of being registered! Went for a cruise to Theresa ck. Dam. It's really obvious I need to repaint a few panels here

And as she sits now. Named her 'Fifty Shades of Beige', hence the bug deflector

 

[Johnstone]

And the plans for the future are:
Aircon
5 speed
Power Steering
Repaint doors, bonnet, guard etc
And last, but definitely not least, this:

A 15b-f. I've got a turbo there waiting for it (ct12b like the 15b-ft had) or I may go with a td04h-19t if I find one. But the ct12b has the advantage of being able to use a manifold from toyota. But thats a little ways off yet, still need to find a 330mm, 275mm pressure plate flywheel! 13405-56041 is the one I need, I can get one from amayama but looking at about $650 landed, which is probably reasonable. Good for 155hp/3500revs, 288ft/lb/1800 revs apparently. Should move the old girl along all right, and return good fuel economy

 

[Indestructible 47]

nice yarn mate, i just got my 47 registered the other day to. great feeling. can't wait to see more of this one. did you think of putting the 1HD-T FTE fromt the HDJ79r in the 47? or did insurance take the whole rig? mines fifty shades of yellow if that's any encouragement, i'll get around to painting her one day. these old rigs grab the attention these days, gotta love the tough old girls.

 

[Johnstone]

The HDJ didn't get written off then, just the cab my brother was going to use for the 47 got wrecked. He did end up rolling it later and he was going to buy it back but got screwed around by the insurance company. I'd love a 1hdfte, and I'm thinking of going with one in my next ute, but the 15b should be pretty good, only just behind the fte in power/torque, more efficient and cheaper rego! Also bolts to a h55f, so you don't have to worry about the crossmember and shifter holes, and I think the fte's are a bit of a squeeze in the engine bay, but it can definitely be done

 

[cbmontgo]

She's looking good. Keep the pics coming!

 

[Johnstone]

Thanks cbmontgo, I'll keep the thread updated as I go along