Surf Build

[Oversteer]

Hi all, I have been reading these forums for a while now so thought it was about time that i joined and show you all my trucks

This is my first truck I built, pretty standard with 31 inch swampers, locked front and rear diffs and manual hubs on the front.
It lasted about 6 months of abuse before the front suspension/chassis got too bent and would crab along the road




I managed to get a solid front 85 surf chassis off a mate that was in pieces so dragged it back to my house and pieced it together ready to put the motor and gearbox from the black truck into it.

I found a cheap stripped ln130 surf on Trademe that I wanted to body off so took it home and removed the body from the chassis and at the same time removed the motor and gearbox from the black truck. New bellhousing and clutch later (clutch let got and put a hole in the top of the bellhousing) it was all ready for the big transplant.



I was lucky that a mate has a hi-ab that I was able to use for the conversion, and was all done over labour weekend and got it running on the Monday.
It also has locked front and rear diffs.












I bought a Runva winch and another mate built a bullbar for it on the front and made one for the rear with tow hooks.




Took it out for a test and bent the front leaves and the steering so as soon as my mate is free I am doing a wide axle/falcon leave rear/rear leaves to front/high steer set up and some 33s and will see how that goes.

[wopass]

good work and welcome!!!

hope to see you out in the mud some day

[gary_in_nz]

thats an awesome project, love the front bar work, could take down small buildings with that!!

[Oversteer]

The rear bar is just as impressive, it has supports going right back to the fuel tank and braces that go through the body to support the side bars so they dont get pushed inwards

[J_Dub]

nice work. was the body swap fairly straight forward? im thinking in time i wouldnt mind doing this with mine, but with the 130 2 door model, do you or any body know if it would work? i dont see why not, mines a yn60, 2 door, the next model (yn61) exactly the same execpt for i.f.s, then the next model (130) same chassis as 61 series with new body.... so shouldnt it all fit... thinking i will do it once my bodys seen better days, plus it would be nice to be sitting in a more modern cab

[Smurf]

nice work. was the body swap fairly straight forward? im thinking in time i wouldnt mind doing this with mine, but with the 130 2 door model, do you or any body know if it would work? i dont see why not, mines a yn60, 2 door, the next model (yn61) exactly the same execpt for i.f.s, then the next model (130) same chassis as 61 series with new body.... so shouldnt it all fit... thinking i will do it once my bodys seen better days, plus it would be nice to be sitting in a more modern cab

J Dub take a look at Choppers thread for a bit more info on swap

viewtopic.php?t=12307
I'm doing a 4 door swap soon too

[J_Dub]

cheers smurf, had a look, guess the basic answer is yes, but thats on a 4 door, would it work on a 2 door 130? ide assume the 60/61 2 doors would be same dimensions, or close to it as the 130 2 door?? or are they all much the same, you gona do a build thread?

[Engineer]

good work oversteer

j_dub..
anythings possible cant see it being to difficult just a matter of grining old body mounts of n rewelding them in the new position.
weve just put a surf body onto a 2wd ute chassis cut all the guards out and made new ones etc so with 20" rims the surf can bloody near sit on its chassis rails its roof sits about as high as my bonnet

[Smurf]

cheers smurf, had a look, guess the basic answer is yes, but thats on a 4 door, would it work on a 2 door 130? ide assume the 60/61 2 doors would be same dimensions, or close to it as the 130 2 door?? or are they all much the same, you gona do a build thread?

60 and 61 surf bodies are identical, as far as I'm aware the 130 2door and 4 door bodies are interchangeable .
I'm sure there will be a few differences between the 60 and the 130 bodies as far as fitting goes, the biggie being the body mount as Chopper mentions.

Oversteer should be able to point out the differences and what to look out for...???

I'll post some pics when I do mine but it will be a few months away.

[J_Dub]

true that, anything is possible when you got grinder and welder, so ill thrash mine this comeing winter, watch Smurfs build then pull mine off the road

[Oversteer]

The swap was very straight forward. Just had to grind off the second to last body mounts before you do the swap and weld them in the new position when the body is on. I had to do a 2 inch body lift as the front radiator support (bottom) was hitting on bumper mounts and since I left the original fuel tank in, the fuel filler hose was being squashed between the chassis rail and the body as you have to extend the pipe.

The only thing I dont like is that Im still using the gutless 2L but this has been built on a small budget and I am waiting for an diesel engine to come along at the right price. Went to Kumeu this weekend and saw a couple of chev V8 diesels for sale that would go very well with a couple of small turbos bolted to the side of them............

[Smurf]

What did you do with your transmission tunnel? Do the gear levers line up through the floor pan opening, or did you have to re work the hole to fit it all? What console, if any did you use?
got any more pics?
Lotsa questions sorry

[Oversteer]

Yes I had to cut the transmission tunnel back a bit further but havent got around to making a cover to fit over it yet. I dont think I will use a center console as I dont need one and I will be doing a disc rear conversion soon so will need to mount a new handbrake lever somewhere round there.

Let me know what you want pics of and when I get a chance will take them and post them up for you.

Cheers

Hamish

[Smurf]

Cheers Hamish, pics of the moved body mount, inside showing trans tunnel/gearlevers, tank filler hose positioning, and the front where the radiator mount was an issue would be great.
Is your wagon legal or a toy?

[Oversteer]

I made the fuel hoses up from both of the trucks, just cut and joined them all together. I may have to change this as when I put the falcon leaves in the rear I think the tyre will hit the pipes when its stuffed right into the guard. There is a plate covering a hole under the rear seat which is just about in line with the inlet to the fuel tank so might change the filler to there.


This is the new mount position, you can see where it used to be just slightly to the left.

The hole in the trans tunnel, I cut it out and it worked sweet then I put the lift kit in it and had to massage the hole a bit more

The pesky bumper mount (below the black cable) that can really just be cut off

This is the bracing for the rear bullbar and tow bar



I could easily get this road legal as with road tyres and a proper exhaust I think I could take it through a testing station and they wouldnt not any different but its just a toy and I would rather not have the hassles with fixing lights etc every 6 months

[Smurf]

Awesome, many thanks Hamish

[Oversteer]

Im wondering if someone who had done the falcon leaf conversion can tell me where the best place to mount the shocks is? I have seen people mount them on the cross-bar that goes from the left chassis rail to the right chassis rail but was wondering if mounting them just below where they are originally would be ok and if not why?

Also are there any factory shocks from another vehicle that would do the trick eg: longer than standard or what shocks would be suitable that arent too expensive.

For the front shocks I found that VL commodore rear shocks are longer than standard and fit in with a bit of a trim to the lower shock mount. This may have to change when I re do the suspension thought.

Cheers

Hamish