Rusty Aussie 80 (1 Viewer)

[Ben3955]

Continuing on from my new member introduction topic here: New member post - G'day from Australia!

I figure I should post a new thread to continue updates.

Went camping in the Cruiser for the first time on Thursday night. Our campsite was atop a remote mountain in Barakula State Forest, the largest state managed forest in the southern hemisphere.

The mountain was once a WW2 internment camp, then used as the base of a forestry fire lookout cabin until less than 10 years ago. The cabin was removed, along with fire lookout towers in the forest, now replaced by high resolution cameras in some locations.

The top of the mountain was deforested to allow better views of the surrounding forest. I've never encountered other campers there, but typically there's only scraps of firewood available, so I towed my own supply up the mountain:

I miscalculated how close I was to the mountain, so I collected the firewood too soon and ended up towing it about 10km/6mi in low range, including going up the mountain. I broke a couple of straps as unfortunately I forgot to bring a decent chain. Oh well, I needed new tow straps anyway.

Below, awning setup and camp oven pork roast being organised for dinner. I didn't pick a very flat surface, hence the wonky awning legs (it wasn't the beers! )

Will continue in next post with further photos.

 

[Ben3955]

I've camped atop this mountain many times, but this time I saw lights of a distant town about 60km/40mi away. Must be the lesser air pollution associated with the reduced travel emissions currently. I've read about the Himalayas being visible for the first time in 30yrs in certain Indian villages. Apparently the waters of Venice are clear too. Photo of the lights from mountain top:

Daytime and some exploring:

Will continue in next post with further photos.

 

[Ben3955]

Got home from camping on Friday afternoon. Yesterday I replaced my spark plugs, leads, distributor rotor and cap, coil pack and greased my swivel hubs (via the inspection hole shortcut). Haven't noticed any difference in driving the cruiser, it was already running great, at least in comparison to my last FJ80. The swivel hubs were practically dry, so I'm glad I did something about that.

That's all for now. Happy Easter Everyone!

 

[Ben3955]

One more photo from the maintenance yesterday, just for XXXX loving Cruiser804:

 

[bigredmachine]

I didn't pick a very flat surface, hence the wonky awning legs (it wasn't the beers! )

ya that's always my excuse too

 

[Tachycardic]

Beautiful, but not one Vegemite shot?

How did you secure the wheel on the rack?

 

[Ben3955]

Beautiful, but not one Vegemite shot?

How did you secure the wheel on the rack?

I haven't been on here in a while. I'll slip some Vegemite into a future photo for you! The wheel was secured with some chain and a big zip tie to tension the chain/reduce play/slight movement.

Since the last update I've:

• Bypassed the fusible link on my cigarette lighter socket so it works again. Planning to install a heavy duty cable from the battery with an inline fuse.
• Changed all of my old brake lines to steel braided lines (can support 2" - 3" of suspension lift if desired in future).
• Replaced a couple of clamps on my radiator overflow/expansion tank line with newer phillips head style clamps.
• Flare and side cladding removal - I was fairly lazy and used JB Weld and non-colour-matched rust guard paint.
• Changed the 31x10.5r15 wheels and tyres over to 7.50r16 split rims. Planning on new tyres for these wheels soon.
• Removed the undercarriage spare wheel carrier.
• Engine oil and filter change.

Here's a couple of recent photos:

 

[timskiizz]

Nice rig mate. I love the look without the flares. Where abouts are you located?

 

[Ben3955]

Nice rig mate. I love the look without the flares. Where abouts are you located?

Thanks Mate. It doesn't look the best in person but it only cost me about $30 in total. I would have lost one of my flares on a bush track about a fortnight ago if I hadn't removed them.

I broke both passenger side flares and the steps off my last FJ80 so I removed them from this one in advance. As a careless young driver, I snapped the end off my exhaust on my first FJ80 too.

Here's a video featuring clips of my FJ80s:




Hopefully that link works as I can't access the hyperlink button on my phone.

I live on the Western Downs in South-East Queensland.

 

[Rifleman]

Ben3955,I love your photos, but I've got to tell you, if i went camping with my wife and she found big spiders like those in your photos making a home on our truck she would FREAK OUT, and never go camping again.

 

[timskiizz]

Thanks Mate. It doesn't look the best in person but it only cost me about $30 in total. I would have lost one of my flares on a bush track about a fortnight ago if I hadn't removed them.

I broke both passenger side flares and the steps off my last FJ80 so I removed them from this one in advance. As a careless young driver, I snapped the end off my exhaust on my first FJ80 too.

Here's a video featuring clips of my FJ80s:




Hopefully that link works as I can't access the hyperlink button on my phone.

I live on the Western Downs in South-East Queensland.

Ah yep, nice! I live in brissy but get out that way fairly regularly. Looks like you have a few pretty cool camp spots. What were the 7.5" split rims off?

 

[Ben3955]

Ben3955,I love your photos, but I've got to tell you, if i went camping with my wife and she found big spiders like those in your photos making a home on our truck she would FREAK OUT, and never go camping again.

I tried blowing them off by driving home at 130km/h (about 80mph) and tried spraying them off at the car wash but ultimately I had to manually flick them off with a tree branch. Apparently I didn't get them all as we started finding them outside our house, constructing huge spider webs. I got a professional pest controller to spray our home. The wife wasn't impressed lol.

Ah yep, nice! I live in brissy but get out that way fairly regularly. Looks like you have a few pretty cool camp spots. What were the 7.5" split rims off?

Plenty of interesting spots in Barakula State Forest. Easy to get lost without a decent offline GPS though. I have mates come out from Brisbane and Toowoomba to camp in Barakula SF.

The split rims with tyres were $100 and are 16x5.5 off a 1990 HZJ75. I picked up an additional 3x spares for $50 near Ipswich but one of the tyres is a metric 235/85R16 so I'm avoiding that one until I convert my FJ80 to part time 4wd.