Challenge, Cruiser on the road for under a grand.

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

So, its been an uneventful year as far as the Collie has been concerned. A couple of rear dampers replaced and a couple of front drop links about all to report, oh, and the rear discs to match the front.
It has however developed an exhaust blow from the flexi piece on the right hand downpipe which I had replaced a few years ago. The side effect of this was a drop in sharpness and a hesitation when coming off idle when setting off, it also seemed to be less frugal too.
Today it went to Stainless Exhaust Systems in Mansfield for the front section to be replaced, as the cat back part had already been replaced a couple of years ago.

It looks like this:-

The collector piece is far more efficient than the factory pipes and the upside is that it it is quieter and sharper than it was pre fitting, the annoying hesitation is gone and it doesn't seem to smell so rich, as it had been recently.

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

For a good while I've been running these 275/70/16's on the Collie and they've been fine .

However they were feeling a bit "old" so I had these fitted to the same wheels, Yokohama Geolanders I'd been running on that scabby 80 I had a couple of years back.

I'd bought a couple of new truck steer tyres ( £420 each, ouch) so I asked them if they'd swap these over and balance them for a favour which they did. Fitted back on last night, an immediate transformation, smooth and quiet. They are my favoured tyre at the moment and I'll fit them to the 120 if ever the present GG AT2's ever wear out.

 

[GeekOKent]

We like the g015 geolandars on the 120.

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Update on the Collie V6.
This has been off the road for a year now. Primarily as the hesitation on pickup was an annoying (now fixed) trait and also I needed to rebuild the air con system as some of it was missing due to an accident it had had sometime during a previous life. Also although it had had a cambelt changed 30K ago I wasn't sure the tensioner had been changed at the same time.
I needed to remove the radiator to facilitate replacing the air con condenser so it all came out.

One issue I had found in the past was the fan carrier had been damaged in the accident and had been repaired rather than replaced and the bearings were rough but not terminal so that
was was a necessity to be replaced.

New genuine one from Amayama, about 1/3 of the price from Toyota ( £910 + Vat)

While I was at the front of the engine I thought I'd do a cambelt swap since I'd heard it was an involved job ( it was). Having obtained all the idlers pullies tensioner water pump belt etc I stripped the front of the engine down ready for reassembly.

This involved removing the front pulley and the aircon pump and it's carrier to enable the tensioner to be fitted.
The aircon pump and it's carrier are a right Ba****d job, with access between the chassis and the inner wing, very little room.

All in all the parts replaced were;-
Air con condenser and drier.
Couple of aircon pipes
Water pump
All idlers
Cambelt and tensioner
Bottom pully and bolt
Fan carrier and viscous fan mounting.
Thermostat.

Reassembly just a reversal of stripdown

Next, aircon condenser ( Genuine) and drier along with a couple of pipes.

Front back on and top up the ATF

This part was now complete.

Fast forward to the present time and over this weekend its had a fairly comprehensive service comprising of
Oil and filter
Air filter
Changed both diff oils.
Changed Transfer oil.
Check PS fluid
Brake fluid had been changed over past couple of years due to calliper work.
All pads are pretty new.
Changed the drivers mirror as the outer case was loose
Changed the seat covers to my favoured " Explorer" ones from some temporary loose ones.
Replaced wiper blades.

There are still some jobs to do, the "D" bulb on the auto display needs replacing, the aircon still needs gassing.

I'm pretty much on my way to getting every single thing working as it left the factory. I taxed it from the first and very much enjoying it.