The Desert Cruiser

[whothehellisdan]

Finally got it all buttoned back up, handles so much better with the extra width. Kinda rad looking in the side mirror and seeing 3" of tyre hanging out as well. Unfortunately it doesn't stop for s***. Not even close. Reasonably confident it's bleed properly, pads are bedded in and everything's bolted up right but it's still soft as hell. Got a new master cylinder and brake booster on their way to suit a 96 non-ABS FZJ80 so fingers crossed that fixes it.

Temperatures are starting to climb here so it desperately needs a canoe strapped to the roof and to be parked up on a riverbank, not down the side of a house.

 

[whothehellisdan]

Got the new master cylinder in, had to make a couple of lines to make it bolt up but no big deal. The great news is the 60 finally has brakes, and good ones. Will easily lock the tyres up at any speed. Going to see how it goes with extra weight on the rear before I worry about fine tuning it. For now though, she's running and driving and I drove her the 40mins to my place back up in the mountains. I'll run the spanners over it a few times over the next week or two before I get confident to head too far off the black top, although after a quick rally through an abandoned drive-in cinema I think I need to get my rear suspension sorted and hurry up with the quarter chop.

 

[Shebamacalla]

Looks killer. Don't chop it!!!!


Sent from my iPhone

 

[whothehellisdan]

Another quick shot to show how much wider it is with the 80 series axles.

 

[maat]

how do you go with the police and having it so high and wide?

 

[whothehellisdan]

It's actually pretty low. The rear only has sagged 2" lift springs in it and the front is maybe 1-2" higher. I've never had an issue with width either. Just always keep it clean and I never get looked at.

 

[cruisermatt]

You have stock backspaced wheels right? With my 5.5" backspace Tacoma rims the rear tire is JUST past the fender. The front I have 2" spacers on a stock axle.

You could bring it in if you wanted to.

 

[whothehellisdan]

Yeah 0 Offset. I don't want to bring it in though, I like them hanging out the guards. If it wouldn't get me thrown in gaol i'd be putting 2" spacers in again, so much more stable.

 

[enfield]

Is it just Sydney that has such strict regulations, or all of Australia? Seems like I've seen some pretty aggressive looking trucks over there in videos. Just curious as to how they get away with it.

 

[whothehellisdan]

It's pretty well all of Australia. You can get things signed off by an engineer to say they're road worthy but it's an expensive and long process. Most people just run the risk and fix it it they get pulled up for it.

 

[maat]

^this

 

[enfield]

Not to derail the thread, but what is the penalty if you get caught? I've read that cars can be taken from owners for violating the anti-hooning laws. That is insane.

 

[niffa]

You have to do something like burnouts/excessive speed which rules us 60 owners right out. I just bought a set of 30mm spacers. Keen to see what they will look like on. Thats if i can ever get home from bali, 3 weeks now..bloody volcano shutting down airport!
Me likey ur rig

Sent from my SM-G900I

 

[whothehellisdan]

Finally got the old girl out wheeling, it was nice going off-road in it and not having to be mindful of anything breaking for a change.
Need to get some coin together and get new springs for the rear and then lots of small mods like dual batteries, LED lightbar on the roof, awning etc to get it ready for summer.

 

[whothehellisdan]

I stayed up till about 3am a few nights ago reading the $50 mods and camping with your 60 threads and got all inspired. I didn't have the coin to do anything actually useful so I picked up a can of bed liner and of plasti-dip. An afternoon later and all the aluminium panels in the back were cleaned and bed lined and the wheels, mirrors, handles are D pillar vents were all plasti-dipped black. Still not sure if i'm sold on it or not.

 

[micruz60]

I like the wheels.

 

[whothehellisdan]

So I found out why she keeps puking coolant on anything resembling a hot day. Apparently the old owner thought it smart to repair a split seam with playdough.

Stripped it all down and cleaned it of the old solder last night. Fixing it this morning after I have some breakfast. Won't be 100% happy with it but there's other things I need more than a new radiator at the moment so it'll do.

 

[whothehellisdan]

Just got the latest copy of 4x4 Australia magazine with a series of recovery articles i'm doing in the 60. For the record I didn't pick the header!

 

[micruz60]

Sweet!

 

[whothehellisdan]

Old leafs and bushes were completely destroyed so I pulled them out yesterday and put in some new stuff with about a 2" lift from Dobinsons. Still not high enough to clear the 35s so I'll be making some extended shackles shortly to give it an extra 1"

Oh and the plastidip fell off the wheels, but I wasn't upset when it did, so that must mean I like the machined alloy look better.