My Aussie Grab Bar Restoration and Installation

[WHG423]

I bought myself an aussie grab bar a couple of weeks ago on ebay. When it arrived it was in pretty rough shape. No sweat, yet another challenge to undertake! Though I'd share my project with you guys.

Here is the bar as I got it. It was scraped up and the leather/vinyl wrap was all ripped up and funky.
But it does have the rubber pads!





First thing was first. Had to get the old wrap off.



After it was off, I sanded it down with some 220 grit. Took the worst spots down to the bare metal, the rest I roughed upend feathered in with the bare spots.




Next came the issue of paint. I went to a few hardware stores and looked at the spray paint colors. Nothing came close. Then I went to Lowes and had them try to match the color with their computer. That was a failure. So… off to my favorite NAPA which has an automotive paint store in-house. I took the glove box door with me for matching. The guy seemed to think he could match it so I left it with him overnight. Here is what he came up with.



More on that later…
Well, I got my paint. Time to get to painting!
I have an airbrush my wife had when she was in art school. It has made it's way to the garage for jobs just as this. It was a nice day out so out back we went with my paint rack and airbrush. I love painting auto parts. I find it real soothing.
Coat #1



I sanded with 600 between coats and mounted it horizontal on a pallet for coat #2 It was easier to see this way.



I also hit the screws



Here is the result. It came out a little too green for my liking where it should have been more tan, and he should have gone with a simigloss rather than flat, but all and all I'm happy. Not perfect but it looks good enough. I can always try again if it bugs me too much.

 

[WHG423]

Time to find leather!

I knew I wanted real leather cause' the Landcrusier deserves it. I was going to go to the frabic shop hunting a piece but after mentioning it to the wife, she told me she thought she had an old purse I could have. A little reluctant to hand it to me, she said it was a very expensive bag and most ladies would die if the knew I was hacking it up. It turned out to be a perfect size and color! The leather is real nice and soft. Thanks Babe











Time to hack it up!!









Using measurements from the old one, I cut the leather to size.











Now to sew the ends over. This was a tedious painful task, but I got it done.







I remembered wrapping my steering wheel in the wheel skins cover. I looked at it, looked at the cover I had removed and came up with a plan. Punch lots of holes. Still had my leatherwork tools from Boy Scouts. I save everything. I punched a row of equally spaced holes, then a row of alternately spaced holes on the other side.











I used some hemp cord from my wife's jewelry making supplies and the needle from my steering wheel job. I said I keep EVERYTHING! - Comes in handy. Took a while to figure out the stiching, but i figured it out with some trial and error.

 

[WHG423]

Now came time to mount it up. Now in my earlier days, I would have been hesitant to drill my dash, but seeing as I hand layout and drill precision holes all day at work it is not nearly as scary. I build jet airplanes for a living and precision is the name of the game! Having no measurements to go by I held it up there and used the TLAR (That Looks About Right) method. first I put up some painters tape and traced the footprint of the mounts.







Drill baby drill! Sharp bits are key!







Test fit looks good!







I make nice, pretty holes.











And there you have it folks! a good as (or better) than new Aussie grab bar! I am very pleased. This was a fun little restoration project that turned out just as I had it in my head. (except the color)

 

[Spudman]

Excellent work mate,

 

[enfield]

Looks great man!

 

[rrv333]

Excellent!

 

[Paul07]

perfect job

 

[Joe_E]

Awesome job.
Nicest grab bar rehab ever posted up.

 

[landcruiserjunky]

Gorgeous! This is one of the coolest mods that isn't heavy on the wallet...

 

[Butt Ugly Chuck]

Nicely done

 

[Big Cruiser Guy]

Really nice work there. Kinda makes me feel like I cheated because my FJ60 came with one already installed.

 

[sdcanine99]

Wow, that looks really good. Although as I read through I was hoping that you were going to keep the "The Sak" emblem right in the middle of the finished bar

 

[WHG423]

I actually wanted to. I thought it was really funny. Too big a pain though and it would not have contoured right with the bar. Oh well, may make it into a magnet and put it on the dash.

 

[iCruiser]

Following same upgrade having found an old bar on-line. Local auto paint shop did great job matching color and putting paint in a rattle can. When mounting, is the bar held in place simply by the 4 screws? I believe on the 62 grab bar, you use a bolt on the back side? Regarding drilling holes, would I use an 8mm drill bit? Why does drilling into metal cause such anxiety?

 

[Butt Ugly Chuck]

I used some fender washers on the backside of mine.

60 grab bar - non USA

This install is too simple to warrant its own thread, but here goes anyway.... Bought one of the brown grab bars pictured below from Lynchmob a few months ago (sorry, he's out of them now:frown:) I...

forum.ih8mud.com

Had the same trepidation about punching holes in good sheet metal! Turned out great though. Yours will too.