Offroad-Express

Now that i have the truck mainly back together i can start to check guard clearances and flares covering wheel tread properly etc. Lots of small stuff to put back together and a few time consuming adjustments to make for certification..........

I can see, and it's only goin from these photos you've provided, a few major issues you're goin to run into.

1: it's sittin at your place and not mine.

2: it's not mine.

3: it's still not sittin at my place.

Noticing a trend here? Now, I know these are little things but im quietly confident it won't be too difficult for you to rectify ASAP.

It's lookin real good man. Paint has come up mint. So have ya driven her to see how it goes, handling etc wise? When you mention brakes, sup? Bleed and proportioning?

Hi Crooza just wanted to say I think your paint job looks really good. I like it how you used acrylic lacquer instead a modern 2-pack.I painted my vehicle with the exact same Dupont Lucite Acrylic Lacquer.

I chose Toyota Dune Beige #416. Ironically my vehicle is a Nissan but I couldn't care less about brand racism etc



Anyway I have painted several vehicles with this stuff. Couple of tips I learned to achieving factory like finish:

1 - the number of coats will determine the tone
2 - a week or so after painting,carefully colour sand the entire vehicle using superfine graduating wet/dry grades - 2000, 3000. This will remove high spots, imperfections etc and blend everything together
3 - after colour sanding cut/polish the entire vehicle with aggressive compound
4 - after cutting, hand wax using some carnauba marine wax designed for gelcoats
5 - wax every month

If you damage it on the trail, no dramas, prep the area, spray 10 coats, blend, polish, wax!

Niblik - I have driven it a bit to see how things flex and shake/rattle
Rear driveshaft needs adjustment, springs ride a bit hard and need set a bit lower, brake lines need re-routed but work REALLY good with a new prop valve and master and pads and seals..... on and on.
It goes good though, ill try get the missus to video it out in the paddock ripping some grass up for you !

lax2wlg - Thanks for the paint comment, it has come up nice for an old truck and i just wanted to go for the original type of paint and colour (532 yellow) your comments were helpful actually, i had wondered how to treat the new paint job because i knew it needed something but wasnt sure whether to cut n polish or not, i think i will try that now to see if i can get it looking new, thanks

No worries, just stuff I learnt and can pass on..
They say wait 1-2 weeks before polishing/sanding/waxing.

Acrylic lacquer is the only paint you can brush on with a dirty old broomstick in a windy barn with no light and still get a good finish. IMO beats the hell out of slow drying enamels.

Unlike modern clearcoats it has a deep lustre instead of a plasticky shine. Needs more maintenance than modern paints (regular wax).

Dupont Lucite is considered top shelf, Yota owners please don't hate it's just to show the paint, not a thread jack

For all the FJ40 followers out there, as promised a short clip of it actually going, taken on the iphone so not sure how good video will be. Truck was all nicely warmed up so thought i would check the stability of it on the 37" Wranglers, but not being in 4wd it just got a bit carried away from what was meant to be a wee slide round the corner Sorry about the skinny format!

http://youtu.be/J1Jws3213Kc

Sounds very nice!

After previously having my certifier look at the cruiser as i was building it, i had a list of stuff i knew i had to do before trying to pass a roadtest, major things included ;
-stronger braced driveshaft catch loop
- 2 new rims because some had been widened by welding
- new seat mounts plated and attached properly
- engine mounts modified slightly
- leaf springs needed set a bit differently to minimise torque steer under acceleration and braking
Plus various other smaller things, but i think i have it pretty close to legal so im away to see what the certifier thinks.............

So off i went to the certifier and was a little worried to find a Safari parked in his yard that had failed the roadtest because the brakes werent good enough on 35"s !
Anyway the old FJ40 with discs all round now, cruised through the road test with time to spare on brake check, i think it surprised him a bit how hard it can stop with the 37" Wranglers turning
Only thing it needs work on was the handbrake performance, its hard to get enough clamping force on the rear calipers with a dash mount pull handle, it just wouldnt quite pull up in the required space.


So off to the wreckers and found a counter lever working the cables under a hilux with dash mounted handle, ive fabricated it into the cables on the cruiser as a bolt on assembly and it seems to have way more force on the cables
Ill try get some better photos of the finished lever assembly as it ended up - It works on my own roll stop test anyway Go see if i can get my LVV plate now................

Woohoo!!

SWEET

How many times did it have to stop for the brake test?

Hey Fakey, im sure there is the usual small differences in interpretation between certifiers on this, but it is meant to be - 5 stops, each from 100kmh to 0kmh (coming to a complete stop each time in 4 seconds) continuously and all this has to happen within 2 minutes total time. Pretty sure that i remember all that correctly, i wasnt able to go with him to see exactly what he did but he said the old FJ40 did it quite easily.
The handbrake test was a rolling stop from 30kmh to 0 kmh in a distance of approx. 18 metres. I think also this can be a park on gradient test for handbrake at a 1:3 grade.

Fakey wrote:How many times did it have to stop for the brake test?

We've got a 60 Series Cruiser in the club that has just past a cert running 37" Wranglers. Its running a 80 Series Master cylinder and V6 Hilux calipers on the front (4 pot all being larger bore pistons).

Congrats on getting this finished and on the road! Very nice truck

Thanks MNC, to be honest my truck had a lot of new gear in the braking department, new master cylinder- new pads front and rear- new bias valve (to stop the rear coming round to meet the front under extreme brake application) and it is also running a hilux caliper on front from memory.
I also got sick to death of bleeding the brakes out until i was sure that there was no air and the fluid was all new.

Yeah, thats the same as what they did with my truck but mine got bad brake fade with 37" wranglers. My trucks pretty heavy an I need to work on the weight transfer under braking haha. I was just wondering how many stops they made yours do

Who did your cert? D Hoff?

Yeah your truck had a big exo and was generally more of a tough truck than mine is if i remember right Fakey? Think you had coils to which probably take some force from the brakes, where mine has stiff old leaves
I must admit it did surprise me how well it can stop on the bigger wheels though, got things kind of right i guess.

Heath - nah mate, i got a guy in Timaru to do mine, we have a couple down this way that can do them. I also have talked to all the cert guys up chch and the one that travels up there now before i decided who i would get to do my truck. Had some interesting talks with some of them and wouldnt recommend some of them either, but they are all just doing their jobs at the end of the day.

Yeah mines got a big heavy exo. My 40 I built before the black cruiser had awesome brakes with hilux discs all round. It'd lock up 33"s at 100k if I stood on it, kinda scary haha

Yeah im always a bit worried when i stomp hard on the picks at speed... The front/rear bias valve gives some piece of mind and to be honest it wouldnt have passed the cert without it, i had some sideways moments on the tarseal during testing before i decided it needed a valve
I was always hoping to see your one finished and on the road Fakey, it was a bit of a beast

Cheers, it still may get back on the road at the end of the year. I used a brake proportioning valve on my 40 aswell worked really well. Only thing I had was siezed pistons in a rear caliper, that was interesting the first time I tried it out

Letting the 350 CHEV clear its throat a little bit and shred some snow and grass …
Sorry i got a bit far away from the video at the end and…. no the sirens are not for me

http://youtu.be/Hg04yrjNjys