Offroad-Express

Hey I actually got out in my truck ... It's been awhile
I was fortunate to be able to tag along with Twin City 4x4, on a trip into the Ruahines
Thanks Wayne, A great bunch of people, it was neat to meet you all.
A great trip into an area that is obviously not that easy to get access to.
Not a difficult track but very scenic and a day well spent.

dazza85 wrote:Hey I actually got out in my truck ... It's been awhile
I was fortunate to be able to tag along with Twin City 4x4, on a trip into the Ruahines
Thanks Wayne, A great bunch of people, it was neat to meet you all.
A great trip into an area that is obviously not that easy to get access to.
Not a difficult track but very scenic and a day well spent.

did you get up onto no mans ? very nice up there!!

wopass wrote:did you get up onto no mans ? very nice up there!!

We did .... very nice indeed .... I could easily spend lots of time in there

hood linign in and door ribbings etc
about to put the windows in and make up new rails for the seats ..then paint dash
maybe

...can someone turn off the sun please

well made a new dash for the fj40 things made easy by safaripete useing a plasma cutter [url]Thanks to ImageShack for [URL=http://imageshack.us]Free Image Hosting[/url][/url]

[img][IMG]http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/149/sa400358jw6.th.jpg[/img][/img]

Spent today fighting with the wiring on my 'new" winch (monstr's old spare one THANKS STEVE ) got it mounted last weekend and spent the last week trying to sort out wiring etc (btw many thanks to Warren from 4wdbits who's email reply sorted a earth issue i had with the incab switch cheers Warren ) .. kept having problems with the solenoid just going "CLICK" and nothing happening, then it would winch out but not in ... then it would winch in for 20 secs then stop then not go again for a couple of hours then be fine for a few secs then stop again grrrgrrrrrrrraaaaarrrrggggggg!!!!!! checked, double checked, replaced then re-rechecked cables and connections .. still nothing.... tried the tap tap tap WACK on the motor just in case it was a stuck armature ... still that frigging CLICK CLICK AH F%$K .. ended up throwing all my toys out the cot and smacked the solenoid just as my son was trying the switch again .. BANG away she went ... hmmm i go...... pulled the solenoid out ... pulled it apart and discovered that it was full of corrosion, gave everything a good spray of electrical contact cleaner then blasted it with compressed air .. put it all back together and lo and behold .. winch now goes in and out in and out in and out .. untill i got told to stop playing with it or id go blind

just waiting on a Hawse fairlead and then im all set

man that is some bling right there .... might advise some matt coloring... refected sunlight n your eyes is not you best friend :d
otherwise top effort
#### i think im gunna have ice cream for tea...maybe some jelly

yum if the sun hits it will go matt black

arrrh the color of champions

Finally got my Blizzard into a garage for the first time in 6 odd months...



Now might have to bust out the old trusty stick welder to tack up a snorkel and spot a couple onto the spring mounts so my diffs don't spin around when I try to move it

Got a week in the garage so hoping to get the gearbox replaced and driveshafts connected then wait for the cash to roll in when I'm back at work so I can sort a high-steer kit.

dazza85 wrote:

wopass wrote:did you get up onto no mans ? very nice up there!!

We did .... very nice indeed .... I could easily spend lots of time in there

some fantastic deer stalking in there as well but we normally walk in from the Komata range best trout fishing in the world is the taruarau river which you would have seen from up there

vvega wrote:arrrh the color of champions

gloss black with a light coating of mud stain over the top is also pretty darn cool

My non-4wd vehicular project saw another step further. I am restoring my grandfathers '36 Ford "Colonial Cab". Well at the moment I am stripping it down and of course it plays second fiddle to the jeep and other things.

However today a big step forward as I removed the engine and gearbox from the chassis, so I can now remove the suspension, and the foot pedals - finally I will be in a position to get the chassis stripped, repaired and painted - then it will be slowly back uphill from there.

I had to take the rolling chassis out of one garage, do a U turn and back into the other garage to get it under a beam.


The motor finally swings free from the place it has spent the last 73 years

if any of the fj40 owners are keen i have a heater on trademe (#199296168) work mint i had to use it at the coasta plenty trip and we all know how dam cold it can get there

wopass wrote:

vvega wrote:arrrh the color of champions

gloss black with a light coating of mud stain over the top is also pretty darn cool

arh yes the real mans pinstrips
thats a WHOLE lot of awesome right there

Had some time to kill in the bay so had a look around and went to cape kidnappers, very scenic there and there is a track around there to a gannet colony apparantly (which you need to get the tides right),





Met up with Weemsey, Deranged and Moonhopper thanks for the hospitality guys....I would have been dragged off to dads squaredancing otherwise (yes he can play the banjo apparantly)

since it's a long weekend for us northlanders thought id go out to my mates place and have a bit of a play ... been about a year since i went out and the first time ive serously tested the Paj in anything more strenous than bouncing over the kerbs at McDee's

unfortuanty it's getting dry up here in the north so there wasnt a lot of mud around managed to find some at the end of some very narrow quad bike tracks shoehorning the paj between 30 year old mature pine trees was a bit of an experience! mainly because im used to the short wheelbased Feroza which wasnt much bigger than a quad bike


so much for heaps of photo's tho my boy forgot to check the camera batterys before leaving and they where flat .. had to put up with a crappy phone pic instead.



stopped to walk this streach of bog as you can see my winch is not operational yet (no fairlead) and wasnt keen on getting *too* stuck (what you cant see it the 10 meters or so of bottomless mud in front , shouldnt of worried tho .. the Paj skippied through the mud without too much drama

took a drive up thompsons track 4 trucks, the 40's first long distance 4wheel adventure ,the boy did well , had a fight with a bank manual steer a nightmare and got stuck in the long muddy bit coming back down

got the trans in, the pos runs well, will go over the river later and give it a blast..

did some more little things on the g discovered i either need to loose the electric fans i have on the radiator or get a bigger alternator i'm going to check out the alternator option first the standard alternator is 55A i know merc make a 80A so will see if i can find one of them with a V belt pulley on the end
also bolted a few more bits on the front put on a new set of lights for the front indicators the original ones were stuffed and i didn't want to pay for merc ones
it is getting closer main issues are shocks and getting my drag link back off yoricks g
then really just got to do all the fluids and it should be go

took my young fellow for a sunday drive up thompsons track today, saw coxsy and co
dragged a rocky for 10 meters on its side so it could be righted back on its wheels after an agument with a slip
driver error

he must had tried had to put it on its side there

yep real hard

Got invited to Whangamomona Republic day and 4wd trip etc by Taranaki Family.

Huge fun, many many pretty girls, belly dancers, people.
maybe peaked at 4000?
HOT!!! stood still too long you were glued to the spot with molten tar. Funny as hell watching people trying to walk on that stuff in jandals. Fkd jandals. BARE FEET when the jandals died.


Drove Whanga rd, a doddle in the hot n dry. Betcha less of a doddle when all that parpa is wet!!!
stayed at Aotuia Station for a few hours had BBQ dinner, drove back to NP (Fitzroy) bugger... Missed my ma-in-laws birthday dinner......... oh dear, never mind!!!

Also did Whanga rd over the weekend, unfortunately didn't get there until saturday night so missed most of the republic day festivities. I didn't realise you were going Bob, would have liked to meet ya.

Me and a couple of KIWI4x4 members did the whanga road and return loop on the sunday, huge difference to the same road last year, was dry as a nuns.... well lets just say is was real dry!

Suz got a chance to drive the mighty lux thru a couple of mud holes and had a blast, thanks to the guys from Kiwi for making us feel welcome, look forward to seeing ya real soon.

will post some pics soon