Operation SOA 75

[Z()LTAN]

Hey all finally got to work on the car again this arvo.

Bent the front hoops, made cross bar and plated the floor under the pillars.
Painted the external hoops so i can put them back on once these internals are cut to size.

 

[Z()LTAN]

Fully welded the cage in tonight.

Got 2 backstays to make now then the tray.

Cheers fellas

 

[GLTHFJ60]

That cage is awesome.

 

[lulo]

That cage is awesome.

...x2

 

[Z()LTAN]

thanks guys, its finally coming together!

Thought id add some beef... in the 10mm variety.

 

[lulo]

Heavy Cage!

 

[Z()LTAN]

Not heavy enough yet!

What do you do with offcuts?

Add more beef thats what!

 

[Myself]

Beautiful truck! Why internal cage though and not exo? Is that a legality issue down under?

 

[Z()LTAN]

Thanks mate, our offroad competition rules state you need a 6 point roll cage to compete in some of the events.

This car will have an external cage on it also.

 

[Z()LTAN]

Teaser pic of the tray build

 

[Z()LTAN]

Here is the basic outline of the tray fellas, im still at a crossroads as to how im going to build the rest of it. But im sure it will come to me.

 

[Z()LTAN]

Here is a pic of the modified throttle linkage and new accelerator cable

Starts, runs and whines perfect. Good to finally hear it again.

 

[Z()LTAN]

Uhoh no more room for the grog esky

 

[Z()LTAN]

Done a few bits and pieces this weekend. It was slow going, 50% of the time it was too windy to weld... Backstays Seats Started the tray

 

[Z()LTAN]

Took today and tomorrow off to get some more done on the ute.

Ive built the rear part of the tray, Welded on the harness bars to the back of the cage, cut the holes for the harnesses and started to mount the cooler rad.

Im on track to have this mostly finished for an easter trip to wedge.

 

[Z()LTAN]

Alright well the tray is built, everything worked out sweet! Alot of welds lol... Just have to grind some of it up, paint it and fit the Ali checker-plate. The main dropped section is for the big tool box and the part closest to the rear of the cab is the battery rack. I can fit 3x N70 sized batterys along here. I had to cut some out of the curved crossmember to get the tray low enough for the batterys to fit under the cooler. 6mm flat bar and welded in full.

I painted the interior a bit to stop it rusting, it will be painted properly and rhinolined after WOZC.

I also modified my radiator thermo shroud to fit some 12v fans (the 24V ones were larger and had a different mounting pattern..) Just some 3mm ali sikaflexed and screwed onto the front with new smaller holes cut in it.

When this wind and crappy off and on rain pisses off ill be able to do some more...

 

[SteelArt]

Sweet build, how do you think the body is going to go being welded to the chassis like that ? Never seen anyone do that before and any of the hard mounts I have seen suffered major fatigue cracks in the sheet metal.

 

[Z()LTAN]

the rear 2 body mounts have been removed and replaced with solid ones. If it becomes a problem i will hard mount the body entriely

 

[Z()LTAN]

shes gettin there...

Made a few funky fittings for the cooler too,

 

[Clint79]

thats some serious thought and engineering gone into that tray mate its a top effort and job
but i think she looked tougher with the old steel tray kind of like the most badass's lookin work ute out