80 Series resurrection.

Hello friends, have been trying to get an old 80 back into a good state for a few months now so thought best have a little thread going here just to show some of the well, call it 'activity' if you like?, 'madness' may be a better word, hope you enjoy tho'.

The truck was registered in the UK in May 1990 and was the 79th diesel version to land here so not saying it's the oldest survivor but probably not far off. It was used as my 'tow truck' from 2005 to 2011. (Was replaced with a '95 then).

Never sold the old one tho'..........why I've no idea, it languished in the yard until Dec. 2014.



Thoughts of a winter project so dragged it from it's resting place an posted it into the garage for decisional viewing..

We have rust and lots of it..



Not deterred, erm dunno..back in bit with more pic's.

The strip down started with no idea which way this would go, may find it simply too bad to carry on?

Lots of bolts were actually turning and undoing which is fairly remarkable, just the odd shearoff here n there;

As always the back end of these old girls look like they've been delivering boats into the sea;



returning to nature;





Body mounts coming undone really well, think the turning point of 'yes I can do this' was starting?



Thought right then, the body has to come completely off somehow so carried on regardless;









so far so good..

Love how even the relay/fuse box has it's own water drainage baffle;



Inner wing is rough;



The bulkhead 'pedestal'? bits that carry part of the mudguards are rotten;








Progressive power steering is nice to see (my '95 GS truck doesn't have it)



This guard is to stop the PPS wires getting near the steering UJ, it's thin but rescueable probably.

Intact threads are starting to give a positive feel about carrying on;



Rust;



With axle stands under the jacked up chassis and all the body bolts out etc etc, it was time to support the body;

Starting separation! axle stands out, springs out;



Chassis only say 10" from the floor;





Wheels with no tyres for the back end cos this is going to be touch n go heightwise;



Also temporarily dodgy at the back end;

Looks good to go eh..



This was one of those days where you knew what needed to happen but would it go to plan?











The answer was yes..

This rhymed with clucking bell..



Chassis in, time for a good poke, prod etc;



Engine and boxes out in 1;



More 'undoing'







old bushes shifted to one side;

Nice progress so far then in stripping her down

Hi Chris that look like a big job you have got on thank for the pics and good look with it from .Tony

Cheers Julian, it was quite a marathon and a lot of hours, wife kept saying "why don't you put a bed in there"..

tonytoyota said:

Hi Chris that look like a big job you have got on thank for the pics and good look with it from .Tony

Click to expand...

Hi Tony, have done a fair few 'builds' but this is probably the most effort out of them all really, good fun tho'.. Thanks.

Flippin eck

I'd say that's quite an achievement and a most impressive undertaking. Puts some good perspective on my own rust issues - they're bad, but not that bad. Therefore, if yours are fixable, mine most definitely are too

I look forward to following the progress.

Lets keep going then;

Happy unbolting;





Starting to build a chassis rotator using Saxo front strutts;

Just flying thro' pic's at the moment but am your all enjoying this anyway;











This was funny, whilst winching the whole thing onto the trailer, I didn't see the back frame had gone sideways and slightly under the off-roader so had collected that on the way. The whole family came out to see if all was ok, welding to the cast saxo hub failed so had to mod that and rebuild the thing in the yard..





Chassis off to blasting, wonder how many new holes they'll find?

Mad or brave ...mad or brave... mad or ...

I can't call it.

Heads it's mad tails it's ...

Chris said:

Mad or brave ...mad or brave... mad or ...

I can't call it.

Heads it's mad tails it's ...

Click to expand...

Think when you tossed that coin Chris it landed exactly vertical...on it's edge.. Hiya mate........see toldya I'd been busy..

Welcome back mate.

look forward to seeing the end result.

I bet you will enjoy it so much it will be a total rebuild on the red one after this