The Desert Cruiser

[whothehellisdan]

So the radiator patch didn't hold. Turns out the radiator was so far gone the tanks themselves were paper thin. Awesome.

The solution was a new radiator and after pricing up what was out there I figured I'd dig deep and get a PWR radiator. They don't make them for the 3F engine so it was custom made and I had to dig a little deeper than I expected but I'm happy with the results.

While I had it all out I found the guts of the distributor were so old they had perished so $180 later it had a new electronic ignition kit in it and she's up and running again for the first time in about two months. The distributor itself is still nasty but I want to yank this engine in the next few months so I'm spending as little as possible on it, if I could have held it together with bubble gum I would have.

Excuse the potato quality photo but I smashed my phone and am using a tablet as the replacement for the time being. But it felt good to get it back on the road. Have a 2" bodylift kit on its way so I can get the rear at the height I want and then lower the front shock hoops to get it sitting even. From there any tyre rub will be dealt with by my 5" grinder.

In the next month or so she's getting a new lower profile roof rack, rock sliders and a rear bar with tyre carrier. Then I just need to change the engine and it'll basically be done.

 

[cruiserpilot]

Looks great, those ARB roof rack feet you have on there, do they stay put or do they need constant adjustment?
I saw a truck with them and I like the clean look on the sides. In bush country I don't want to lose my RTT cause
my rack catches branches.

 

[whothehellisdan]

Looks great, those ARB roof rack feet you have on there, do they stay put or do they need constant adjustment?
I saw a truck with them and I like the clean look on the sides. In bush country I don't want to lose my RTT cause
my rack catches branches.

It's been on there a few years now and I've never had to even adjust it, they've always stayed tight.

 

[whothehellisdan]

I got sick of the rear tyres scrubbing and still don't have the coin to fix it properly so a 2" bodylift will buy me a little time. Barwork looks sort of janky because of it but will be good again when I pull the bodylift out. Best two photos I have with the new height at the moment.

 

[sgiandubh]

What you've done with your 60 is stellar. Usually I'm a fan of subdued rims but on your truck the wheels work well.

 

[ropodebo]

i'm mad jealous of y'all down under.

 

[whothehellisdan]

What you've done with your 60 is stellar. Usually I'm a fan of subdued rims but on your truck the wheels work well.

Thanks mate. I wasn't sold on them at first but they're definitely growing on me. Sort of like a modern version of the 15" chrome rims on an FSJ.

 

[whothehellisdan]

Finally got her out to do some wheeling and was very impressed with how the suspension works. Not a flex monster, but ridiculously stable and feels very solid

 

[User Name]

Dude, this is awesome. Are you running 35's or bigger?
I'm very much wanting to run a setup like yourself but with coil overs in the rear. Thanks for posting it up, awesome to see and helpful info.

 

[User Name]

Also how do you find the 80 diffs after being on them for a while? I'm hesitant about swapping out my 60's because they're factory cable locked, longfield birfield/axles and the larger centre .. I like the idea of keeping it as original as possible but I'm also open to the factory lockers/Longfield's funding a chunk of the new setup.

 

[Elbert]

nice

 

[whothehellisdan]

Also how do you find the 80 diffs after being on them for a while? I'm hesitant about swapping out my 60's because they're factory cable locked, longfield birfield/axles and the larger centre .. I like the idea of keeping it as original as possible but I'm also open to the factory lockers/Longfield's funding a chunk of the new setup.

Thanks mate. I love it on the 80 diffs. The brakes are all basically brand new in it but it'll easily lock up all 4 35s. Stops as well as my wifes XR6 (Australian go-fast sedan).

If I was in your situation it'd be a damn hard choice and I'd probably just run bigger offset wheels and fix up the brakes, but my diffs were tired anyway so it didn't cost much more.

 

[richxd87]

Great build man, thanks for sharing and documenting! I've got a few questions for you if you don't mind.

Did you weld in the panhard reinforcement bar the 80s have?

What is your caster set at and did you set it when you welded in the axle side radius arm mounts?

What is your shock length at ride height?

Thanks!

 

[whothehellisdan]

Great build man, thanks for sharing and documenting! I've got a few questions for you if you don't mind.

Did you weld in the panhard reinforcement bar the 80s have?

What is your caster set at and did you set it when you welded in the axle side radius arm mounts?

What is your shock length at ride height?

Thanks!

No reinforcement bar in there. My Panhard mount is a lot higher than a standard 80s one and is braced back to some bracing coming off the radiator support. Caster is 5 degrees from memory, I just positioned the axle where I wanted it, set the caster, then swung the radius arms up as tight as I could get them and made mounts to suit. NFI on the shock length. It'll be lower than I want anyway, the upper mounts are too low so I've had to wind off all of the pre-load to get it low enough, new upper mounts soon should drop the front end, get some more up travel and get some pre-load on the coils.

 

[whothehellisdan]

Some minor updates. Finally got around to cutting up the roof rack for an LED lightbar up there, should only take me another 12 months to actually wire it up. The Thompson solenoid on my winch crapped the bed so it's been replaced by a Gigglepin spec Albright, runs soooo much faster now. Oh, and I finally filled in the holes left from removing the flares, got them filled and a quick spray can job done so I could do some wheeling this weekend.

 

[whothehellisdan]

Minor update.

A tree fell on it.

But it didn't do any damage.

So I bought an LS1 to celebrate

If all goes well I'm hoping to have it in and running sometime before 2050

 

[whothehellisdan]

I've been dabbling in a little photography lately but no o is too keen on lending me their car for hours in the middle of the night. 60 never complains though.

 

[chappohj47]

Fantastic photo that's a wallpaper

 

[klinetime574]

Great work. Whats the story with the tree? Rig looks okay in the last picture. Lol

 

[enfield]

Still my favorite build!
Is the Defender yours as well?