Clints Cruiser Project

[Clint]

Got a few pics of the finished aux power setup & fridge storage, this was all finished in a bit of a rush before we headed south last month but everything worked mint.

Modified my old boxes a bit at the front to make a compartment for the 60Ah deep cycle gel-cell:



Kept it pretty simple with a just a combo USB/ciggy socket & the special Engel socket for the fridge.





The sockets came with inline fuses so I just used them, I have some panel mount fuses to install one day if I'm really bored. The aux battery connects to the dual battery controller under the hood via an Anderson plug & some 8AWG cable, there was even a factory cable tray alongside the door under the sill with space to run the cable.

The alu drawer tray was almost too wide for it's house, but a snug fit meant no rattles. The height is set so it's just sitting on the bottom of the box when it's in so the slides don't take the weight while the car is bouncing around.





This let us leave the truck for a day or two without running & the fridge kept going no worries. Nice to come back to a cold beer after a couple of days out tramping

Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

All pics now fixed after the photobucket fubar. Test with some pics from our last South Is trip:







Cheers
Clint

[BlakeNZ]

wow, that is spectacular!!!

[Clint]

Haven't been too busy over the last week or so, so have uploaded all the pics to Smugmug & edited all the links so this thread is back, better than new as I've added in a few extra pics I've found trawling through my old folders. Really liking the Smugmug pic hosting, super easy to use, well worth the money.

The cruiser is now in that happy place where I do more driving of it than working on it but gotta stay entertained on rainy weekends somehow so there's always something going on. Recently finished off the gadget mounts on the dash, made up a holder for the tablet that sits on a RAM mount, then also put a RAM mount alongside it for the phone or the Garmin GPS. The bolt holes for the old temp display/altimeter were perfectly located to just bolt a couple of RAM balls through.





The RAM stuff isn't cheap but it is really tough & well thought out. Plus I can also use the arms & holders on the motorbike & on the boat as required.

Next big project is to try installing a clutch booster, I don't mind the heavy duty clutch too much, but lighter would be better & the co-driver has voiced her displeasure at the effort required. I couldn't see how I could fit in a booster until Mohawk showed his 70 series internal booster - so it was on to trademe & Dan down in Chch who wrecks a few cruisers had one there, out of a PZJ70 I think.



Looks like I'll have to move the 4wd control module & drill a few holes in the firewall, it will be tight, but it should fit.

Cheers
Clint

[wjw]

which topomap app is that? Maptoaster?

[Clint]

which topomap app is that? Maptoaster?

It's called Viewranger. Was $40 for all NZ on up to 3 devices, also have it on my phone, there are other free/cheap mapping apps but I reckon this one is worth the money. Can easily download all the maps for offline use & it just works well.

Cheers
Clint

[wjw]

this one?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/viewran ... 81674?mt=8

[Clint]

this one?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/viewran ... 81674?mt=8

Yep, that's it. The app is free but you have to pay to get the NZ topo50 maps. I think it has a free NZ topomap set which is actually pretty good & can also be downloaded for offline use, but I've been using the topo50 or the previous version since I was a boyscout so I can find my way on one of those much easier.

Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

Time for a 2018 update.





Mostly just been using it. Always need to have a few improvements planned for when there's a rainy weekend in the shed though. Recently I pulled the seats etc out & Dynamatted the floor to cut some of the whine from the noisy Marks Adapters transfer case gears. Also replaced the rear cobys in the exhaust to some louvered ones to quieten that down.

Had one too many snarl-ups with the wire rope on the winch so finally bit the bullet & ordered some plastic stuff off Aliexpress. Got 12mm which might be a bit excessive, can only fit 30m on the drum, but it's really strong.

Over a year after getting the boosted clutch setup I finally got around to putting it in over the weekend.





It looks to big to fit in the cramped space under the dash but it does just fit. I had to take out some heater ducting & the brake pedal assembly to get in there.



The rear mount on the bracket bolts on but at the firewall end the main hole needed to be enlarged & two more bolt holes drilled. Fairly simple as the new bracket can be bolted on through the one common hole then used as a template. Just a lot of contorting to get positioned under the dash to work on it.





The master cylinder for the boosted clutch is 3/4" vs the 5/8" stocker on the LJ71, so some of what you gain from the boost is lost to the bigger diameter, but it's still a much easier clutch than it used to be. I initially made the mistake of just plumbing the vac line into the hose off the intake, which meant all the boost disappeared with the engine off. A closer look found a vacuum accumulator & non return valve thingy under the brake booster. Connecting the clutch booster in the hose on the other side of that lets it hold enough suck for a few pedal strokes with the engine off.

The weekend's other job was to fix the broken fuel door release handle thing which has been rattling around for years. The wee lathe rocks for stuff like this. Yet another broken plastic bit replaced with billet aluminium



Cheers
Clint

[skid]

Time for a 2018 update.

Is this on top of the hill up Handcock Road

Still got a few tracks up there ?

[Clint]

Time for a 2018 update.

Is this on top of the hill up Handcock Road

Still got a few tracks up there ?

You got it. All the tracks are still there although I need to do some digger work on the north side as it's getting a bit tough to go up over winter. Will have a club trip sometime over summer.

Cheers
Clint

[Checkerhead]

Sorry for an almost pointless reply, but just wanted to thanks for the update. It's nice to read stuff on here from time to time. So much better than FB.

[Clint]

The cruiser has been on firewood duty over the last couple of months so now ours & mum's woodsheds are all stocked up. I wanted to sort out a few 'nice to have' jobs & decided to get stuck in when I broke a rear spring a couple of weeks ago. Cracks in the steel had been steadily corroding away until a bit of enthusiastic driving up the bush broke one right off. The other side had the same cracks visible:



These were custom made by Archers in Rotorua, & to their absolute credit, they made me up another set quick smart, no fuss & no charge. Some fault with the steel apparently. Luckily it happened not far from home & they were able to make the new ones 25mm longer, I'd had to put packers on top of the old ones to get her nicely level with a load on.



Also on the list is new handbrake shoes & Terrain Tamer shoe struts - the 80 series handbrake sucks balls & these little 1.5mm longer doofers are apparently the hot ticket to sort it out.



At $80 for a pair they better bloody well work. I probably could have made some easily enough but the weather's been way too nice lately to spend a day in the shed grinding & filing them out...

The other big job is some bigger louvred core cobys in the exhausts to hopefully quieten it down a bit. Stainless ones from Adrenaline R were about the biggest thing that would fit. Passenger side is done & now 1/2 way through the other side.





And from the WTF Is That Noise files, how about this:



Silentguard my arse! The outer backing plates on my new front brake pads had slipped inwards until they were rubbing on the hubs. Never seen that before.

Cheers
Clint

[wjw]

Those dog bones will help, but you will need to follow the factory instructions for adjusting the handbrake, since I put the dog bones in and learnt how to adjust it properly I havent had any issues.

[Clint]

Those dog bones will help, but you will need to follow the factory instructions for adjusting the handbrake, since I put the dog bones in and learnt how to adjust it properly I havent had any issues.

Cool, I have the factory manual so will definitely do it by the book.

Cheers
Clint

[NJV6]

Looks good as always Clint. You’ve had this machine for a long time now, remembering back to the reefton rollover days.

If only my workshop looked like that.... can’t see the floor in mine...

[Clint]

Looks good as always Clint. You’ve had this machine for a long time now, remembering back to the reefton rollover days.

If only my workshop looked like that.... can’t see the floor in mine...

Ya gotta go past 90 degrees for it to be a rollover don't ya? I need to go have a another try on that hill now I have stronger diffs

I could be the Marie Kondo of workshops... It's a fine line between keeping a good selection of useful stuff & having a train wreck of a shed. We've prioritised this as a workshop rather than junk storage right from the start so it's pretty easy to keep it tidy.

Exhausts & handbrakes are all sorted now, this week's job was actually completed almost entirely out of my carefully curated junk selection. I have needed a cold idle up control for ever but have just made do with the hand throttle, a while back I had a brainwave & realised I could easily switch open a normally closed relay with the programmable fan switch on the Link computer. I had a solenoid air valve in my parts stash, taken off the motorbike about 14 years ago, plenty of bits of hose etc. So now the Link fan switch opens the idle up relay at 60 deg engine temp & closes the solenoid valve from bleeding off intake vacuum. Works sweet.

Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

Hit the South Is again last month for some biking, hiking & 4wd.

Drive/tramp up the head of the Rangitata:



West coast:



Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

2020 Update.

Cruiser has been running well. Got in a last hardcore hoon on the local gnar just before lockdown.



...which resulted in smashing a side window on a bank... Of course not the side I had a spare for... Not totally a bad thing though as I found some rust under it to fix. Now I know to blow the crap out of the drains along the bottom of those sliding windows.



Other recent upgrades have been some mad soundz... new front speakers anyway.



Also re-wired the 4wd control. On this era of cruisers the transfer case 4wd is engaged by vacuum. On the LJ71 this was controlled by a little computer that also managed the long-gone electric hubs. She started to intermittently not shift out of 4wd & it took ages to work out the problem which was the 4wd control computer. So this was binned & replaced with a simple changeover relay to switch the vacuum solenoid valves.

Cheers
Clint