Needed new side steps as the originals were rusted. So bent up some new outer shapes from some 2mm steel and bought some chequer plate to weld on top. Went a bit thicker on the steel to make them strong. Got the lower section that mounts them bent up at a local metal shop. Got quoted $70 then when I picked them up a few days later he wanted an extra $40, so after telling him that he quoted me he said it was only an estimate so he took a $100. Really hate getting anything done around here as everyone is either out to rip you or not interested unless it’s easy money for them.
Then l got home and found his bending was out and he bent it out of 2mm instead of the 1.6mm from OEM. So got him to redo one of them.
My new geniune windscreen rubber seal came a few weeks ago after a long wait, so decided to get rid of the old perished one. New rubber was heaps better to fit and a lot more flexible, should never have tried to fit the old one. Live and learn l guess.
Also trial fitted the side steps l made to finalise some welding and the hole for the front guard bolt. Starting to look more complete.
Waiting on parts to arrive for my other vehicles, so wanted to do something about the front spring bushes. I bought the ARB conversion bushes but they fell apart while just driving in and out of my workshop.
So used some old hangers from the rear and started modifying them to take the larger bushes.
The ARB bushes with extended shackles
Then worked out the positioning of the new spring bush tube and cut and die grinder to fit nice and square. Then cleaned it up in the sandblaster. New vs old, ready to be welded
Finally got a chance to sandblast the front inside edge of my bonnet in my make shift 3 man tent sandblasting booth. This brought up a few holes that had to be welded up before the primer goes on.
Once that was sorted l blasted the centre rib that l had removed and straightened it up, primed it in zinc paint, glued it down with some sixaflex and welded up the spot welds.
Then cleaned up the bonnet, side steps and stripped the bullbar back to bare metal and acid washed them all. Then laid down the ecotec primer to seal them all up. The bullbar will get finished in black raptor but still deciding on whether to cut it up and fit my winch before that happens. But for now it’s primed and stops anymore rust.
Chipping away on a few more things, fitted up my Bimini top and footman loops. Have it a good clean once it was on. Then moved onto the vent cowl mechanism and fitted it up with some stainless hardware and a new cityracer gasket. Not sure if it should be glued onto the vent flap, if that’s what you call it
Still need to paint the dash and sort out what l going to do with the PO job of chequer plate panel with locker switches.
Could patch it up or make a panel to mirror the ash tray and use that to mount some switches or a JRP digital gauge to monitor all my temps and pressure readings. Have one of these gauge set ups in my turbo 80 series and rate it. The coke cardboard cutout would be the alloy plate, think I have seen it done before or maybe a ashtray blank made.
Found some D rubber seal and gave that a try at $4 a roll, winning. Think it turned out alright put an extra bit on the lhr door but pulled it off after l realised it didn’t need it, also glued the ends on top to stop any water and crap getting into the seal.
You can see in the above picture that l changed out the rear shackles to standard length. The OME bushes l used to covert the small to large bushes had turn to rubbish, they sent me some replacements but not confident they will last so with the 69 springs l also have the later larger bush mounts. Disappointing about the bushes as the shorty has only been sitting in the shed and driving around the yard.
Moved onto the front spring hangers, bloody rivets are good fun to remove.
Bolted the new big eye bush hangers l made in the original mount holes but the springs are way too long. Running 60 series springs front and rear. So moved them forward to another position which gives me a shackle angle of 20 degrees without a bar or any weight on the front, think that will work.
l will drill two new holes to mount the new hanger into the final position and bolt it in with caps head bolts and maybe a few small welds. Here are some pics of the ARB conversion bushes that turn to crap just sitting in my shed, and the old original hangers
The chassis always looked a bit rough and needed a bit of a wire wheel and some black paint to tidy it up. It is a solid chassis and rust free. So attacked the chassis with the grinder and wire wheels. Had to Jack the rear of the chassis to get clearance to do the chassis. Sometimes l feel like l’m doing things backwards but live and learn l hope. After jacking the body up and realising the guards were going to contact the body I pulled them off. When l was sitting the guard on the floor it contacted the metal buckle on my boots and scratched the guard **** my life, gutted l continued on and cleaned up the rear member, need to finish this thing.
Looking to assembly the front bib, l know there’s a spacer under the front hinge for the bib but don’t have the original. My HJ47 has a spacer of about 6mm. I made one about 9mm thick, does anyone know what the thickness of an original 71 model was?
Been thinking of what wheel and tyre set up l want to run, love the big wide tyres but don’t want to run flares so going for a standard style wheel with caps.
Looking at BCI wheels in a 16 x 7” rim, wanted to run 255/85/16 tyres but they only have mud tyres and very limited to a few brands. Really want an All terrain tyre but they aren’t any so considering running a 285/75/16 Falken ATR but the 7” rim might be a bit narrow for these.
Anyone run a 285 on a 7” rim?
Here are the rims I want and the part numbers for the hub caps
Another option l was considering was using the 16x8 steel 80 series wheels but the offset hits the tie rod ends and would need a 5 mm spacer to clear on the front. Would need to check the rears.
Top pic is 35x12.5x15 mud tyre, next two are 16x8 80 series rim with 285/75/16
so he took a $100. Really hate getting anything done around here as everyone is either out to rip you or not interested unless it’s easy money for them.
**** my life, gutted l continued on and cleaned up the rear member, need to finish this thing.