Take 3, the Forever 45- IFS and 1uz-vvti (2 Viewers)

[Vossie]

A couple brief thoughts on doing upholstery like the center. First off, after repairing the center I'd wrap it in a thin layer of foam to help hide any imperfections. 2nd, heating vinyl with a heat gun will make it easier to stretch and avoid folds. 3rd, my preference would be to use leather rather than vinyl. I've soaked leather in warm water or water & rubbing alcohol and then stretched it around complex shapes. The important thing is to let it dry at room temperature to avoid damage to the leather.

Thanks for the info man. I don't know why I didn't think of leather, I use it all the time for my knife sheaths and I wet form it all the time too! Don't know where my brain was on that

I did use heat when I did this vinyl wrap but for some reason it did not like the heat, it actually bunched up more

But ja, will definitely redo it in leather when I get a chance. Thanks man

 

[Vossie]

Got my grille cut out. Cleaned up and then hand sanded the letters, welded them on and got it on the cruiser.

Then finally got the wind screen glass in.

And then drove her home!!



First meaningful drive, about 20kms. There are lots of rattles to chase, and most of the suspension, ie, shocks, bushes, links, needs to be done, but I'm amazed how comfortably she rides!

The engine and trans went awesome. Got to 87°C and stayed there. She idled along at 70kph and had an awesome amount of power on the kick down.

Couldn't be happier! And now I get to work on all the small things here at home too!

BUT...... I lost one of the 'o's from my front grille on the way home

 

[Vossie]

Been driving it around a bit to give the old girl a bit of shakedown and see what's what.

Chasing rattles is always fun. Got a lot of them out, at least the ones that are not to do with the suspension, which will come when we have the money to sort that all out once and for all.

Been battling to find Hood latches for a while now, plus, I'm really loving the sleeker look of the front end without the light boxes and latches. So I wanted to see what a smaller latch system would look like.

These are the old latches for the roof, which I'm no longer using as I have the new style windscreen. I like the look, still a old school 40 part, just repurposed.

Another thing to chase is heat ingress. Needed to make a top plate for my gearbox tunnel and some boots for it.

Has to be a 2 peice system to go around both shifters.

Then some brackets to hold the boots in place.

And then the boots. Will see how these do. If the plan is a success, will upgrade to rubber boots at some time in the future.


Working on a tall cruiser can be challenging at times!

 

[Vossie]

Took it on a around 50km round trip. Had to take a fly press to a friend, the same one who will be servicing my front diff. So dropped both the press and the diff.

In the future, air bags are going to be required to load the old girl. But boy oh boy is she comfortable when loaded!

Then went from their to another mechanic friend of mine to show off a bit

He was suitably impressed, and he's a tough cookie to crack! He's also got a ton of experience with the 1uz. Put one in an 80, and about to put one in a boat.

He took this video for me


not only comfortable, but she can pick up her skirts and move too!!

 

[Tank5]

Cool idea using the roof latched on the hood.

 

[Vossie]

Cool idea using the roof latched on the hood.

Thanks, I was contemplating some of those hood pins that sit flush, but I think I like this better. Still small and stream lined, and a good use for a 40 part

 

[Vossie]

So far so good. Just trying to get some miles on the build, figure out what needs doing/fixing/adding before we strip down for paint. Also just need a bit of time to male koney for paint, so might as well enjoy her while I do.

First up, need to fix this....

Dremel with a carbide burr did the trick. Got covered in steel splinters which was not pleasant.

Then a light skim with filler and then we will hit it with high build primer and sand back when we go to paint.

Needed to make a top cover for the center console too.
I've made lots of brackets, mounts, small parts and such for my cruiser build so far, but never anything that I would consider true panel beating. So here's my first try at it. Not perfect, but so much better than I was hoping/shooting for and has given me confidence to do more of this if I need too. It Also houses the switches for the power windows. More on those later...

Still need to make a facia plate for the radio itself. As well as some more wiring for these windo switches

 

[Vossie]

Something on my wishlist as I've been driving around is somewhere to put my phone where its close to hand. Also some where to put keys and other junk that isnt the cubby or the center console box. Saw something similar to this a while back and liked the idea, so here is my version.

Basically just a tray that will sit on the bottom of the windshield frame. Made some nice little brackets to support the frame itself. Welded in some sheet steel to the bottom and will add some insertion rubber over that when I can. I hit it with primer so it's still drying over night, will get it in the cruiser tomorrow.

 

[Vossie]

Got the dash tray in. So nice to have a place to throw stuff.

Also finally got a new idler arm for my steering. Now when I turn the steering wheel, the wheels turn too! There's no longer a delay!

Now I need to clean up and paint the chassis around it to match

 

[Vossie]

Starter motor was starting to die and I don't want to be stranded high and dry when does eventually go.

Anyone who has ever had to get at the starter on a 1 or 2uz knows what this entailed....

Intake manifold off

At least a good chance to clean up the motor.


and inspect the intake manifold itself. Looks nice and golden

Put new contacts in the starter and put it all back together.

Now she starts on the first touch of the button

 

[Vossie]

Got some new to me wing mirrors on. Really like the look and feel. Not stock, but nothing is on this build so

Also finally got my number plate light on. Been procrastinating on that front but now it's done.

 

[Vossie]

Adding more toys to the rig. Next on the list is the remote start, alarm and push to start. I already had a push button start but this is at least more OEM feeling, if you were in a 200 series cruiser that is....


Now I can start cleaning up the dash and interior. Got a lot of stainless cover plates to design, cut and finish for my end game plan.

 

[Vossie]

More suspension work. This time both upper and lower control arm bushes. One of those jobs that sucks but it will all be worth it.

 

[Vossie]

Well, finally done with the control arm bushes. What should have been a half day job turned into 2 days of hell, but got it done.

Now we can FINALLY do alignment

 

[Vossie]

Been awol for far too long. Between work (effectively 3 jobs right now), family (cancer sucks) and every thing else, hard to remember to keep this build thread up to date.

So I'm just going to spam a whole bunch of pics.

 

[Vossie]

First foray out of town. 40kms out to my dad's farm to see the combine working.

Got given a free AC condenser by work. Made some mounting brackets and got it in. Will do the lines and the rest of the AC system later on, just wanted to make sure the condenser in this position wouldn't affect engine temps, and it doesn't.

 

[Vossie]

I got bored one afternoon

Then finally time to do something about all the heat coming into the cab.
2 layers of alububble insulation, heavy rubber underfelt and then a heavy industrial carpet.

Really happy with the results. Big difference to heat and sound ingress.

 

[Vossie]

My cousin has just finished a mild refresh on his 45, mainly a new paint job. He's kept his pretty much stock.

It's amazing how unstock mine is at this point!

This is what's been keeping me away from doing as much as I would like....

Cutting roofs off of unimogs and brand new v8 diesel 79s

And designing new integrated steel bumpers.

Finally have seen a 45 in freeborn red in the flesh. And that ends my desire for freeborn red. Its nice, but its not me. White it is!

 

[Vossie]

And then I had my first breakdown and failure. To be fair, it was one of my mods to enable this frankenstein to function, effectively one of my stitches came adrift. But what a stitch to break!

This little coupling connects my gearbox to my t case, and where it engages on the tcase splines, its now completely stripped.

Too much power and too little engagement on the splines. If I had greased it, maybe it would have lived longer but who knows.

So, because I now daily this rig, I need it back up and running ASAP. Best way forward right now is to delete the tcase, remake the flange off the back of the gear box to go straight to the rear diff and make a mount to hold it all up. In 1 day.

Let's go.

Had the prop shaft lengthened to suite. Was back running the next day. And without the tcase, there's now more power.

Long term plan is to aquire an a340 4 speed auto box with a tcase already attached to it. That means I will have to change from the stock ECU to an aftermarket ECU.

So step 1: new ECU.
Step 2: a340 gear box and tcase
Step 3: enjoy being a 4x4 again

Some alteria motives for the ECU swap include chasing a bit better fuel consumption and maybe a bit more power.

 

[Vossie]

Rotated and balanced the tyres to try and get rid of some wobble that came in at 100kph. That cured it, now she's on rails all the way to 145kph.

Made some hold down latches for the windscreen, again reusing some old OEM parts

That finally allowed me to get the roof off in readiness for our summer, at the least the dry part of it

And finally planning on my awning that allows me to enjoy the open air without getting sunburnt whilst sitting in traffic