Clints Cruiser Project

[Clint]

Time to get back into it after the last few weekends have all been spent helping mates with Taupo 1000 prep.

The GQ axle got rolled under, clamped into place & jacked up & down to check clearances. The panhard mount on the chassis was in the way so that got hacked off. Looks good otherwise. It would have been nice to have the axle a bit further forward but as I could only shift the steering box about an inch without major re-engineering of the front end I decided to leave it in place & the axle will be in about the same spot as the original. Next the old radius arm mouts got chopped off the chassis & fabrication of the new mounts, lower & further back, started. Getting these located properly in all directions took a bit of time.



Pedal to the metal on the 200A TIG sticking these together:



Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

Slow but steady progress over the last week. Panhard mount:



This had to be relocated further forward to clear the diff & a bit lower to get the angle right. I've seen these broken off with the combo of big tyres & too much loud pedal so I stuck to the workshop motto of 'nothing exceeds like excess' & made it a bit stronger than std

With that done it was on to the axle spring/shock mounts. Further back to match the top spring mount & packed up to clear the rear radius arm mount. More metal still to be added to these when I pull the axle back out to fully weld them.



...& then she was able to sit on her own 4 wheels again. Shock mounts next, then bumpstops, make up a proper steering arm, put in all new bushes, plumb the brakes, trim the guards... & I'll be 1/2 way there

Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

Front end mostly done now. Just need to trim the guards, get some longer shocks & a couple of other minor bits & pieces.



Looks a bit goofy but I drove it across the paddock & down the street & back without any issues. Then back in the shed to start on the rear end.

Tore out the old axle & scraped & brushed about a 1/2 ton of dried mud out from underneath, now ready for the next round of fabrication.



At 1st look it doesn't seem like grafting in the 80 axle & suspension will present any major puzzles.

If anyone is in the market for an LJ71 back axle including radius arms (2 sets), hubs, brakes & a busted 4.88 R&P... have I got a deal for you! Also the old pair of EFS 40mm lift coil springs.

Cheers
Clint

[Madaz]

Just about time for a new passenger door there Clint... Good work though, trucks looking the part for sure

[Clint]

Just about time for a new passenger door there Clint...

Don't want to rush these things, it's only been about 6 years since I smacked that up down at Reefton I might shout it a new one though, once the guards are trimmed up I'll be giving it a coat of paint so will have to track one down before that. With the wheels now much wider than the body it will take a bit more more effort to abuse the sheetmetal in future.

Cheers
Clint

[shortylux]

Don't be so sure about that. My exo hoop sticking out 2" from the body would tend to "suck" me on to the odd tree, denting my B pillar. Your rear wheels may do the same. (depending on how/if you do sliders).

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this.

[Clint]

Too much other fun stuff to do over summer has meant fairly slow progress, but I am gradually getting there. All the rear suspension mounts are now done & dusted & the axle is in for hopefully the last time.



I have tried to copy the 80 series geometry as much as possible.





Thanks to Dan's sheetmetal skillz the wheel arch edges were cut & shifted up about 50mm, just finished migging all those back in & painting/sealing. Dan also helped set up the back diff, all rebuilt with a terrain tamer bearing kit & the Ironman/Harrop/Eaton electric locker.



That's now in the housing, next up is connecting & bleeding the brakes. I also need to work out a longer handbrake cable - might try a MWB 70 one from the wreckers.

The 80 series springs I got with the axle may be a bit wide/stiff/tall but I think I'll give them a go, will help to work out what I need if nothing else. Need to source some shocks too, ideally something not too big in diameter as space is tight.

Other major items on the list are getting a driveshaft made (need to see if I can get a matching bigger flange for the transfer case) & making up the new exhaust. The top arms in the back are where the muffler used to be so I'll be feeding a pipe down each side of the chassis & out the back with home built mufflers under the doors.

Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

Exhaust is about 1/2 done now. Custom made some mufflers with the new homebrew press brake.



Trying to fit in a decent amount of muffling under the doors, will have the boxes & then a couple of Cobys. We tried just side pipes & Cobys when we first put in the V8 but it was a bit loud, so hopefully the extra muffler & exiting out the back will make it acceptable. With the wider track there's room to just run the pipes along outside the chassis rails to the back.

New 80 series handbrake cables were pretty cheap on tardme so got one of those on the way, will mod it to fit somehow... A set of shocks are also on the way, just basic Ranchos, wanted something with a boot rather than shroud as space is tight.

Last major item needed is a back driveshaft. Planning on getting one off a longer cruiser & getting it cut down to fit. If anybody has LWB/MWB Landcruiser rear driveshaft lying around, I'm in the market. Flange each end with 4 equal spaced holes on 93mm pcd.

Cheers
Clint

[Jafa]

Nice work Clint
Great lookin press too!

[DMcCready]

Cool little project mate

Nice work

[micahb]

Can you please chuck up some pics of the guard/wheel arch mods? Was this done on the back as well.
cheers, Micah.

[Clint]

Cheers guys. The homemade mufflers were a bit of a fail as the metal was too thin & it vibrates noisily. Old filing cabinets have their limits in automotive fabrication obviously So will get 2 more Cobys to go in there.

Can you please chuck up some pics of the guard/wheel arch mods? Was this done on the back as well.
cheers, Micah.

Will get some pics over the weekend. We did front and back. Basically Dan just took the outer down hanging lip out, moving the outer wheel arches up around 50mm to be level with or higher than the highest part of the inner guard.

I'm still going to have to pack the bump stops down a bit to keep the tyres off the sheetmetal though, particularly in the back. In future I will probably look at re-doing the entire wheel wells bigger so I can have more articulation & travel. All the rest of the suspension etc has been made to travel up further without interference.

Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

Basic structure of the new exhaust now done, still need to swap the cobys in the front, add some hangers & sort joins/flanges.



With the pipes in place I can now finish the mods to the sides of the rear bar & start thinking about side bars.

Another pic of the chopped front guard for ya:



The Simexs don't look as huge with the wheel arches made bigger

Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

Progress continues...

Rear bar has been modded to clear the tyres & fitted back up. Also made a shield to go at the back of the RH wheel arch & protect the fuel filler hose.

Rancho 5000 rear shocks arrived from Summit & have been fitted. These were one of the few things in the conversion that have actually just bolted on with no mods at either end. I was a bit worried about clearance off the springs & chassis at full squish but with the bump stops packed down to keep the tyres off the sheetmetal she's all good.

I finally got my handbrake cable after it went to the wrong address, looks like it might fit up without mods... maybe. Into that this weekend.

Also now have another couple of cobys & some rubber hangers in stock to finish the exhaust & a 75 series rear driveshaft from trademe is waiting to be picked up.

Cheers
Clint

[Sausager]

The Simexs don't look as huge with the wheel arches made bigger

Haha, yes they do!

Awesome truck mate, keen to see videos of this thing tearing up

[Clint]

More minor progress, handbrake cable went in sweet with a few small mods to brackets. It did take quite a lot of rolling around under the wagon trying different routing before finding the right arrangement that would take up the extra length, not foul on anything & not have any tight bends.



The cable came an Oz outfit on trademe, 'allfourx4' It was about $70 delivered & seems pretty good value. Only issue was they didn't put the right address on the package so it went to a place down the road & I almost never saw it.

Need to get some more argon before finishing the exhausts, so it was onto the other major item left to do, the rear driveshaft. Turns out the 75 series driveshaft I got has quite a short slip yoke spline compared to my original, too short for the travel I need, so instead of shortening that shaft, plan B will be to fit the bigger UJ's off it onto the existing LJ71 shaft with it's longer spline. So it was into the 'machine shop' to spin off the welds:



Which was about as far as I got last night. Cut a good wedge out of the shaft but still couldn't separate the UJ end. Will hit it with the torch tonight.

Cheers
Clint

[derk]

Ahhhh the dreaded 80 series handbrake

[Clint]

Ahhhh the dreaded 80 series handbrake

Is there something you guys aren't telling me?

I tickled it all up at the shoe adjusters etc but it still has a bit more travel than I'd like at the lever. Are they all like that?

Clint

[wjw]

Ahhhh the dreaded 80 series handbrake

Is there something you guys aren't telling me?

I tickled it all up at the shoe adjusters etc but it still has a bit more travel than I'd like at the lever. Are they all like that?

Clint

yes

[Clint]

Been looking at the 80 rear, Prado front & GQ front anti roll bars I have on hand trying to work out if anything can be made to work. While I haven't driven the new setup yet the Prado wasn't that nice on road with the anti-roll bar off before so I'm thinking I'll want one.
SWB 4x4's often seem to run an anti roll bar just in the front & the 80 rear one seems to hang down a lot so not keen on using that. The front ones I have aren't going fit easily so I was thinking about getting the local springmakers to bend one up to fit across inside the front arms near their chassis mounts, then go forward to brackets off the original Nissan front anti roll bar mounting holes on the radius arms.

If anyone has messed with this sort of thing I'd be keen to hear any tips.

Cheers
Clint

[Checkerhead]

Hey Clint.

My opinion/experience is that the radius front end doesn't flex fark all so no need for a sway bar there.

When I put a sway bar on the back of my lux (same linkages as Klems truck) for Taupo 1000 it made it so much better. Front and back flex was a little more even (instead of the front doing nothing, back doing everything). I never took that sway bar back off. Made it better on and off road.

Arron.

[Clint]

Got one end of the driveshaft done, still need to upsize the other end & make it a bit longer but it'll do for preliminary testing. If anyone has a munted Prado driveshaft I'm buying, need the t-case end female spline - then I could make up another whole female end & keep the current one as a spare.

Got the exhaust all finished over the weekend, NO RATTLES! The old setup didn't have much room in a couple of places so a bit of a tweak or a flex would always leave it rattling somewhere.



So last night it was time to visit 'a closed road under controlled conditions' for a little test drive ... and it drove pretty well! No vibes, wobbles, pulls or shakes. I didn't push it too much but I think it handles not too bad for a SWB on big Simexs. A bit over geared of course, but a set of lower ratio t-case gears was always in the plan, & they have the option of an 8% high range underdrive which I think I'll be getting. Just need to double check speeds/revs/ratios before ordering.

Still a big list of stuff to do before some offroad testing next month, & another list to work through before getting a cert, but it's real nice to be rolling.



Cheers
Clint

[Clint]

So I did a few gearing calculations for the 4.11 diffs (vs original 4.88) & the big tyres & worked out that if I can rev out in 5th I should hit 275 km/h... Somehow I don't think I'll be able to fit a blower big enough...
So I have just ordered some new transfer case gears from Marks Adapters in Oz, 55% lower low range which will bring it back very close to stock & 8% lower hi range which should have it doing about 2200rpm in 5th @ 100km/h on the road.

Marks Adapters had an NZ distributor listed but when I enquired with them they wanted over $800 more than the price in Oz Not the best business model for them as my gears are currently on the way to an Oz workmate who is coming over in a few weeks. I could have flown to Oz & collected them myself & still come out better off!

Busy on some painting now, want to get that done ahead of putting flares on etc, so she'll look like quite a different wagon by next week. Am using my mentor Klembo's top secret methods in automotive coatings technology

Cheers
Clint

[Madaz]

blue house paint, brushed on?.......

[Ashohman]

I had the same thing with those marks4wd adaptors nz supplier I dont know how they are still in business they said id have to wait to get a speed sensor adaptor and it was going to cost me more den buying direct from aus and no wait time shipped nxt day...... this was like 7 months ago. So seems they are still in business which is surprizing I even told they guy I was talking to that I could get direct from aus and he still didnt want to match or beat price.

[Clint]

:lol: blue house paint, brushed on?.......

Close... it came out really good actually Will get some pics tonight

Clint

[Clint]

80 series rear diff: $$$$
Eaton Locker: $$$$
Low range gears: $$$$
Simexs: $$$$
Paint Job: $29.95

Karaka green Crown roof paint FTW







Cheers
Clint

[Sausager]

Looks awesome.

I like the patch over the hole in the guard

[Checkerhead]

:lol: blue house paint, brushed on?.......

Disappointed that you didn't use a brush Clint.

[Clint]

Disappointed that you didn't use a brush Clint.

It is brushed on! Skillz aye? All that practice on my house roof paid off

Just been for another test drive, hums along good, loaded it up with some gear & a full tank of fuel & gave it a bit more of a workout around the corners, I'm still happy with the handling, no anti roll bar as yet either. Gave it a run in 4wd on the gravel with no issues. Brakes are working but a bit mushy, planning to swap on a new master cyl to see if that cures it.

Cheers
Clint