80 Series resurrection.

[Chris5-7chev]

Hi Clive, have only had a quick delve into Ben's posts so far but did spot the red Mk1 Cortina and yes the red car next to the old blue Ford Mustang is a Capri.

All good memories and all so simple to work on.

What isn't simple is this Landcruiser engine and box swop, the plan was to use the engine loom for the '95 24v and plug it into the '90 12v dash loom but am going away from this now mainly because I like to sleep at night..

Far too many multiplugs have been redesigned/changed between the years but the wire colours seem to be consistant so some splicing is on the cards later..

Lost loads of time last night stripping the engine down to change a leaking water pump but later realised the water drip was from one of the loosened alternator bracket bolts. After using the term 'FFS' a few times, just put the engine back together again..

Was in quite a mess;



There's double everything here with full wiring looms from 2 trucks;



Came out the garage at 11;00pm back in there at 07;00 and the front end is all rebuilt again so just wiring, fluids, bonnet etc to deal with.

You know how they say 'Don't try this at home'..............well I should have listened.

 

[Chris5-7chev]

All done now, very happy with the end result..

Simple to wire up, changed the connector on the starter, swopped one of the coolant temp senders, wired reverse light switch into the remains of the old auto box loom and wired the old auto park/neutral safety wires into a hidden 'in car' switch.

All the 24valve EGR soleniods and whatnot have gone (no provision for them anyway in a 1990 loom).

The old glowplug wires have been taped up for now with solenoid also isolated (may wire into the inlet heater grill but have read that some no longer use that at all?)

So the old Cruiser is now a 1990 24 valve Diesel with a manual box, no rust and a chassis cleaner than ya mums kitchen..

 

[clivehorridge]

That's a rare one then Chris!

Well done for the Percy Veerance, you must have been getting close to chucking it all in.

Where did the water come from then? Was it trapped in the thread drillings?

 

[Chris5-7chev]

That's a rare one then Chris!

Well done for the Percy Veerance, you must have been getting close to chucking it all in.

Where did the water come from then? Was it trapped in the thread drillings?

Ha ha Clive, yes plenty of ups and downs (mainly downs). One example was turning the ign. key thro' the open window for the 1st time, saw ign. lights light up then flicked it to start only to be met with a 'bang' from the ign. switch.. and no starter motor so quickly pulled the battery earths just in case..

Went in for tea then muttering various profanities, turns out one of the positive ring terminal feeds had been missed off the r/h battery and the ign. bang was the heavy key ring hitting the steering column shroud..

The water leak must have just just been a migration from inside the pump at a guess? not sure but with the alternator brkt bolts tight there's no leak now.

Although this crazy engine/box swop is all done thankfully, the truck is still in the garage until I've had a good study of a friends Jap import 80 (no EGR at all), this should help with any vacuum hose queries/re-routing.

One thing for sure is that there's always more to learn about our awesome 80's and my only current regret is not actually owning a 1990 FSM to help with the wiring,

The only book I have is that Max Ellery one and the wiring diagrams within it are a bit of a challenge to follow..

Anyway thanks for the reply matey.

 

[Chris5-7chev]

A couple of pic's of the old bus;



Still fairly clean;


And the staggered crossmember;

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

I have a FSM for the 92 80 Electrical Wiring Diagram if it helps Chris. Its no EWD169F.
PM me.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

EWD114F is the one for 1990 but RM184E which should be on here in the manuals section as a PDF and is also from 1990 has all the wiring diagrams that are in EWD114F. EWD114F has a bit more information about loom routing and junction locations. If RM184E isn't working here you get get the original from www.mudtoys.com/manuals/RM184E.pdf

 

[Chris5-7chev]

Andy, Jon hello and thanks for the info above. To be honest didn't realise there was a manuals section on here until the end of the conversion but did find the 'Mudtoys' site.

The hard bit was getting to understand each area or section of loom and figuring how it worked, it's satisfying now but was a real headache for while. Would love to remove all the unused loom but that could be a pretty scary place to go.

Off to have a read, thanks for the link Jon and Andy for the location of the nearest FSM cheers..

 

[Towpack]

A couple of pic's of the old bus;



Still fairly clean;


And the staggered crossmember;

You're far too modest Chris.
Should read....A couple of pics of probably the best 80 in the country. What a top Job!

Your surname isn't Carlsberg by any chance is it?

 

[Chris5-7chev]

Towpack, thanks so much for that but noo, surname isn't Carlsberg unfortunately, the chassis on this is probably the best oldest one but the rest of the truck is a bit scruffy in many places.. It is getting better all the time tho' with all the improvements, later brakes, newer engine and the manual gearbox..

Towing was the problem with the old A440 auto, went into meltdown twice on some Welsh hills a few years ago which was why the truck was parked up.

A good friend bought a manual truck locally which was mechanically good but a bit beaten on the body but then he saw a mint import auto a week later and bought that as well so I ended up with his manual GS, the towing activity was night and day so even 4 years ago the plan was to transplant the manual box into the best body..

Sorry to go on a bit but the overall plan is slowly coming together..Thanks for reading.

 

[clivehorridge]

I'll second towpack's comment. Personally, I'm not so taken on tidy trim and interior stuff, the real truck is working mechanics and reliability.

The "old bus" looks just fine to me, another understatement.

 

[Chris5-7chev]

Hmm thanks Clive, have been out and about tonight, my word the machine is like a cross between a hot hatch and a Freightliner truck, really didn't expect auto diffs in a manual to make so much difference.

Top speed has taken a hit but 60mph does me fine anyway (that's not max) and towing will be effortless. Tyres are 265/75x16 so could go a little bigger there?

Now the biggest surprise was how the brakes have improved and they've not been touched or have gone rusty, yes I've changed the engine so there's a different pump providing the vacuum but have removed all 5 of those little EGR solenoids with the miniture filters on and maybe a percentage of vac was lost thro' them?

Have changed the actual brake pedal and have been running around for the last few weeks in combination of Audi A4 and '88 Hilux, placebo? or are we losing vacuum to varying degrees thro' those little filters? Something to chew on..

Also had a good old look at a factory 24valve 'no egr' import truck today and took pic's so will post em up soon..

 

[clivehorridge]

Although I've had my 1995 European spec HZJ80 for 9 years now, I have no idea whether it a EGR or not

I think not...

...and there's no way it could be described as a hot hatch, more like "tepid"

 

[Chris5-7chev]

Although I've had my 1995 European spec HZJ80 for 9 years now, I have no idea whether it a EGR or not

I think not...

...and there's no way it could be described as a hot hatch, more like "tepid"

Hi, just managed to log on again, quick update 4 years on and 25,000 miles later there's honestly not a lot to report, no issues or breakages just 2 batteries and some 305 open country tyres added.. Hope everyone is well..

 

[clivehorridge]

Good to see you posting an update on your thread Chris, and nice to hear the “old girl” is still performing well.

My old 80 is still going well on 450k kms and I’m well, thanks for asking

I’m just watching some Jay Leno steam car videos, and your update of this restoration thread seems quite appropriate

Cheers

 

[Iwan]

Hi, just managed to log on again, quick update 4 years on and 25,000 miles later there's honestly not a lot to report, no issues or breakages just 2 batteries and some 305 open country tyres added.. Hope everyone is well..

Good to hear man! I can reflect from your words. To undo every bolt on an 80 in a restoration and use it back to it's intended purpose again is such a nice feeling to reap the return from the effort in returning it back to use . When you revisit any repairs... you're not faced with the challenge of unseizing rusty bolts etc. I've revisited some parts that I've previously undone and truly is a contrast between a non maintained truck/untouched.shed.

Hat's off to you and here's to many future years of use mate!

 

[Chris5-7chev]

Good to hear man! I can reflect from your words. To undo every bolt on an 80 in a restoration and use it back to it's intended purpose again is such a nice feeling to reap the return from the effort in returning it back to use . When you revisit any repairs... you're not faced with the challenge of unseizing rusty bolts etc. I've revisited some parts that I've previously undone and truly is a contrast between a non maintained truck/untouched.shed.

Hat's off to you and here's to many future years of use mate!

Thanks guys, apologies for being inactive on the forum for a long while but 80 series reliability and normal 'turn the key an go' we just plough on don't we. Having said that some of us are never very far away from yet another project so 2 years odd ago the itch was scratched for something different and challenging to build.. We (wife) basically bought and drove a Chevy pick-up down from Aberdeen with a nice sounding but worn out V8 diesel in it.. Took the engine out and the computer controlled junk etc, it's now on the road with a Cummins 5.9 12 valve in it. pic's to follow.. Oh and build qualities yep you guessed right - I had to lower the standards..

 

[fbnss]

Cummins 5.9 12 valve

is that a 6bt? must be fun one of our old 7.5t had one in, it just flew!

 

[Chris5-7chev]

is that a 6bt? must be fun one of our old 7.5t had one in, it just flew!

Ha ha yes matey it's a 6BT from a '99 Daf 10 tonner with a 5 spd ZF box, noisy and horrible compared to HDT but goes well..

 

[Chris]

Good to see you checking in Chris. Been a while. How's SORC doing? Not seen anyone up at Holymudslide for a while