Offroad-Express

New Project . LJ80Q this is the result of catching the sickness off DB.
She is Cute and Dainty , Light weight and Jaune Avignon and has duly been dubed "Sandy"

Brought a month ago from a Ginga who has been storing her for me .
First Day of ownership off to a fun rally for a play.

Totally addicted.

She is in really good shape for a NZ LJ , virtually no major rust. just a bit of surface rust .


Plan is to set her up for camping and exploring. Stock except for some slightly bigger tahs.

*Clean up Surface rust
*Give the engine some love , ie oils , tune up etc.
*Give the breaks a service .
*WOF and REG
*Re-Fit the softop
*Re-Fit bullbar and side bars
*fit 410 front springs

*Drive her lots and lots. Summer LJ wheelin onnnnn.

Slightly longer term scale.

*Fit free wheeling hubs and Front disc breaks
*3000lb winch

then eventually a full strip down , ground up restore and respray. plan is to do this next winter.

Full Steel Doors


800cc Big block . Suzuki's 1st ever 4cyl engine.

UBZ wrote:Brought a month ago from a Ginga who has been storing her for me .

Fawker

Be cool seeing how it turns out

Ha , my first Suzuki (Had 15 since then) in the back ground of the first photo ( it didn't have a pink stripe when i had it, got it off a car yard in 1996 for $5500! was a great truck .Good to see another LJ being done up UBZ.
Al

Man This truck is in good cond' for a NZ new. Was awesome to see it out on that day too. Look forward to seeing it again. Hope she goes well for you

i thought the 800cc engines were 3 cylinder are you sure that isn't the 970cc engine

Its the mighty F8a, first of the Suzuki four stroke engines

44hp.

Oh, and boy do they rev!!!!!!!!!!!

yeeahh, like a chainsaw on steroids

suzookyman wrote:yeeahh, like a chainsaw on steroids

4 stroke chainsaw??

DieselBoy wrote:4 stroke chainsaw??

had a look at them on thursday at the fiel days, fark they expendy!!

nice bits of gear, but i still prefer the 2smoke ones.

and cool project chris, rust coloured heat shield would look better blue tho

Grrrr... I'm so jeleous!!! To have a LJ with little rust and to have street legel is a rare thing now

DieselBoy wrote:4 stroke chainsaw??

A mate bought a makita 4 stroke weed eater at the field days. Really quiet and lots of torque, but about 1kg heavier than equiv 2 stroke.
The guy said that makita have produced a prototype 4 stroke chainsaw, but it's still a bit bulky. Watch this space I guess.

Well...... this is my chainsaw!

The mighty F8A
Over a year and a half of complete secrecy in the making.
Built with performance motorcycle technology
797cc (48.6cu.in)
30.5kw (41hp) @ 5500rpm
60Nm (44lb-ft) @ 3500rpm
Mikuni Side draft carburetor

Doesn't sound like much , but the whole truck only weights 760kg.

wopass wrote: rust coloured heat shield would look better blue tho

As you can see the heat shield has been removed to be chromed.
Same guys do bling blue anodized lowering blocks for the springs.
But I can't make up my mind between that , or mq diffs and 33's


Mikuni ,Cam driven fuel pump. Has been bypassed for some reason , and a crappy little facet pump rangi'd in at the stock filter location .

Have a rebuild kit on the way for the pump

Tried to service the front breaks today
Got held up needing a 36mm socket to undo hub nuts. Couldn't find anywhere to buy one.
But I avoided the pipe wrench temptation


Also discovered this....

All 6 of the rod end boots have completely disintegrated.
Ball joints themselves still all feel fine and none are dry , so should be savable.

Have also started the process of dealing with the surface rust.
Look great from a distance , but has a reasonable amount of lite surf rust , mainly on the bonnet and guards from stone chips.

Plan is to sand back each spot , rust convert / prime / touch up paint .
Will look a little rangi for know , but will slow the rust heaps and give me a summer of seat time before the full re-build.

How tights that hub nut dude? Shouldnt be too bad, it sets the preload on the bearings? Should be able to get it with a crescent.

Bear in mind i know nothing about Suzukis .

Cheers Daniel

That nut holds the brake drum onto a taper. That taper fit provides all the drive from the front diff.

Ya need a big puller

Or just get busy and raid a 413 or 410 diff for the disc brakes and don't bother with the front drums. They are a PIA!!!!

DieselBoy wrote:That nut holds the brake drum onto a taper. That taper fit provides all the drive from the front diff.

Ya need a big puller

Ah yes, i have seen these before, good luck!!

Awesome project tho!!

DieselBoy wrote:That nut holds the brake drum onto a taper. That taper fit provides all the drive from the front diff.

Ya need a big puller

Or just get busy and raid a 413 or 410 diff for the disc brakes and don't bother with the front drums. They are a PIA!!!!

I thought it was a spline under the break drum. It's the CV that's pressed in. Was going to use a rim/tyre slide hammer

But I might just try adjusting them instead.

I have a full 413 front diff with all the parts for the disc conversion . Just need to find some 410 CV's . Wouldnt think they would be so hard to find.

looks like a bit of fun mate,should tidy up nicely,and that rust ain't bad,yell out if you need a 36, I'm sure ill have one lying round at work that can be borrowed for a while

Popped off the tappet cover to find this.



Will do an oil flush/ change tonight and see if i can clean it up a bit.

muddyhilux wrote:lyell out if you need a 36, I'm sure ill have one lying round at work that can be borrowed for a while

I think the front wheel bearings have a flat spot in them , so planing to just go ahead and do the disc break conversion. 8 king pin bolts and the whole knuckle come off

Pick up the SJ410 CV's tonight

Hey UBZ where are you getting the fuel pump rebuild kit from and how much are they? the pump on my boys 1983 sj410 has stopped working and i was going to try and find another one as I never new you could rebuild them
cheers Al

suzookyman wrote:Hey UBZ where are you getting the fuel pump rebuild kit from and how much are they? the pump on my boys 1983 sj410 has stopped working and i was going to try and find another one as I never new you could rebuild them
cheers Al

http://www.suzistore.com.au
But don't say I diddn't warn you!
good to deal with and normally have parts to you in 3-4 days.

The F10A is a great little engine. [url][/url]

I hate working away from home . You have to fit drive time and shed time into your weekend . :pissed:

Anyways ,work is still progressing.
I have been sanding away at the rust spots, scored a set of 205/80/R16 HT tyres for test fitting and mall crawling.
After much pain, i have good SJ410 birfeilds for the front disc conversion. (Farken pipe technique , :hammer: . whatever )): )


And a few spares


I have re-built the stock fuel pump


Got all the soft top and door latch bars sorted





And been playing with my new / old bullbar and side bars.




Mounting System is well , yeah , um , .............. getting attention from the cutoff disc. and some plates made that will actually mount to the chassis rails.


Not sure if im happy with the line of the side bar


Front mount is good , but rear will be modded to cup the chassis rail , so i dont have to drill it.

OOOOOHHHHH YEEEEEEAAAAH

Love that front bar, it looked good in the shed, and so much better again on the truck!!!

Can't wait to see it blinged up and out in the bush!!!!

Great motivational photo's, thanks

Picked up a set of 4+spare road/test tyres yesterday ,for sweet FA.
Stock Tyre size is 6.00x16 which are getting hard to come by or $$$ to replace new .

Standing on the Left is a Dunlop 6.00x16 on a stock LJ rim .
Next to it is a near new Bridgestone 205/80 R16 on a 6" (i think) factory 16" Hilux rim .
the 205/80 R16 looks to be just about perfect . A Tad wider and when fitted to the the narrower LJ rim should stand a little taller, accounting for the wear on the old 6.00x16

Just need to visit the local LJ dealer and acquire a couple more LJ rims. Then go visit the local tyre guy.

Tyre at the bottom of the pile is a 225/75 R16 and looks to be about the same diameter as a 6.50x16. But 20mm wider than the 205, so not really what I am looking for.

I got a 205/80R16 Mounted onto a Stock LJ Rim.
Size looks great - Adds a certain hillbilly flavor too .......



Just need to buy some muds in this size know.

Stick with the non spoked black rim sets it of well

Dr_PC wrote:Stick with the non spoked black rim sets it of well

ha ha , people either love em or hate em. But I like them.

Slowly been working on the interior .

I hate Rust
I hate Paint Stripping
I really hate Sanding .
I hate Painting

but the end result is sweet.





Oh and at some stage, someone decided it would be a good idea to bolt a towel rail on the back of the LJ. Bye Bye

thats not a towel rail, thats a recovery point

or the carry handle

looking good though man

So I have had the whip out and a date has been set with the paint booth...
I scored some 2 Pac Industrial Primer and use of a compressor through "The LJ Network".
Went out and brought a gravity feed spray gun and taught myself how to use it , well ....... sort of.
Then got busy with the strip disc , sandpaper, rust dissolver and primer. This is where I am at, after last nights effort.





This is what I still have to do in the cab . Then just the doors , windscreen frame , tail gate , front clip , firewall , gear leaver plate and dash cluster to get ready.
I have 8 Nights and 2 full days to do it . :hammer:


I should really be fixing the cruddy roof on my awesome workshop. Its on the to do list somewhere around number 458 as its still water proof at the moment. )):

that roof is more than the workshop i have access too at the moment