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Challenge, Cruiser on the road for under a grand.

Got on a bit further with the Collie today, attached the straight sidesteps I'd given a good scrub up and fitted back on the truck.

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I also reverted back to the 16" BFG's which are quieter and nicer to drive on than the 17" General Grabbers.

still ploughing through the jobs.
 
Got round to finishing off the interior swap this morning. The last job was the rear door cards.
This job was not straight forward as the VX door cards are considerably different to the GX ones as are the door handles and the window switches. As I'd already had 2 goes at this only to find things were different and not interchangeable I was now confident I had everything as I'd acquired the door looms and door handles as well. All went well, swapping the looms in the doors as the plugs to the electric windows are completely different and moving the door pull screw locators to a different location so they would locate the VX door pulls.
If this sounds a faff its nothing compared to the job of converting the bodyshell which has a split rear seat to accept a bench seat. I found that only one captive nut on the bodyshell ( each side) was relevant to the bench seat and had to reverse engineer the other six captive nuts into the bodyshell to fasten it down as the factory would have done on the VX shell. The four to the rear were placed somewhere above the rear shocker top mount so difficult but not impossible to access.
Anyway got the captive nuts welded in place ( from the top) and the seat was installed.

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Its looking smart in there now. Its become a bit of a project now to continually improve it and its gone past the point where I'd get my money back but that won't stop me getting it as good as I can.

Next job, the "D" light on the autobox display.
 
@AndycruiserguyLomas, are you swapping a pre 1999 VX seats into a post 2000 GX Colorado? Pre 1999 ones are with full bench seat in the middle and the 2000 onwards has 60/40 split seats in the middle row.
 
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Cheers for that Nick. I don't know that much about Collies and their variants. I assumed that split seats were an option. Mine is a sept 2000 reg. I don't know the year of the donor truck, it might have been a 99.,
 
The full bench pre 99 ones slide on runners so you adjust it back and forth. The split seats ones have front hinges that you can “rotate” to move the seat away to get to the 3rd row. So the way you fix it, can you still slide your middle bench?
 
The full bench pre 99 ones slide on runners so you adjust it back and forth. The split seats ones have front hinges that you can “rotate” to move the seat away to get to the 3rd row. So the way you fix it, can you still slide your middle bench?
I need to check my split seats now. I did not know that! :openmouth:
 
So the way you fix it, can you still slide your middle bench?

Yes, it is is installed exactly like it was previously , slides, tilts, lays flat, folds up. Everything it did before.

The only disadvantage to the swap is the seats are way heavier. The rear bench must weigh 60kg at least which makes it a bit of a challenge moving it about to retro fit it. The advantage for me is that the seats are more comfortable, the drivers goes up and down as well as fore and aft and they are heated.
 
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.....
The advantage for me is that the seats are more comfortable, the drivers goes up and down as well as fore and aft and they are heated.
That's looking really nice now :sunglasses:

Didn't realise that the non-VX front seats don't move up and down.

Also the facelift model's middle row seat doesn't slide back and forth iirc - it does everything else plus the added flexibility of 60/40 spilt.
 
Yes, it is is installed exactly like it was previously , slides, tilts, lays flat, folds up. Everything it did before.

The only disadvantage to the swap is the seats are way heavier. The rear bench must weigh 60kg at least which makes it a bit of a challenge moving it about to retro fit it. The advantage for me is that the seats are more comfortable, the drivers goes up and down as well as fore and aft and they are heated.
Good job there @AndycruiserguyLomas to get this swap to work. I look at this a few years ago, but didn’t go ahead due to complexity.
Any photos of the mods you did to the base of the middle bench, to get this to work?
 
Picked up a rear bumper locally to paint and replace the one I have which is scuffed on the corners

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And guess what?? unbelievably the rear light nuts came undone.

Another step forward, plenty still to go.
 
Got round to finishing off the interior swap this morning. The last job was the rear door cards.
This job was not straight forward as the VX door cards are considerably different to the GX ones as are the door handles and the window switches. As I'd already had 2 goes at this only to find things were different and not interchangeable I was now confident I had everything as I'd acquired the door looms and door handles as well. All went well, swapping the looms in the doors as the plugs to the electric windows are completely different and moving the door pull screw locators to a different location so they would locate the VX door pulls.
If this sounds a faff its nothing compared to the job of converting the bodyshell which has a split rear seat to accept a bench seat. I found that only one captive nut on the bodyshell ( each side) was relevant to the bench seat and had to reverse engineer the other six captive nuts into the bodyshell to fasten it down as the factory would have done on the VX shell. The four to the rear were placed somewhere above the rear shocker top mount so difficult but not impossible to access.
Anyway got the captive nuts welded in place ( from the top) and the seat was installed.

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View attachment 181248

Its looking smart in there now. Its become a bit of a project now to continually improve it and its gone past the point where I'd get my money back but that won't stop me getting it as good as I can.

Next job, the "D" light on the autobox display.
Hi @AndycruiserguyLomas, did you weld the captive nuts for the bench ‘into’ the body? Do you have any photos?
Cheers
 
, did you weld the captive nuts for the bench ‘into’ the body? Do you have any photos?

Hi Nick, I first attached the bench seat in place and fastened it in place with the 2 captives that were in the right place. then marked the holes to be drilled using the runners and seat brackets as a marker. I then welded 6 nuts of the right thread to 6 thick repair washes and bolted them in place ( with the bench seat removed). I then drilled 4 equidistant 6mm holes 3-4mm from the bolt head and mig welded the hole up so it formed a spot weld type of thing between the washer and the floor.
The bench went straight in then. One thing I ended up with is some cut out holes in the carpet where the original split seat brackets had been. This will mean removing all the seats and centre console to fit the corresponding carpet for the bench seat. I also had to remove the clamp down brackets which the split seats hold to.
Unfortunately I didn't take any photo's as I as on a mission to get it done in one hit.
 
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Had a little drama with the V6 the other day, went to the other side of Chesterfield towing a trailer and it didn't feel quite as sharp as normal. Got back, unloaded and returned said trailer, sounded a bit noisier and on the way home even more noisier plus rattling from underneath.
Up on the ramp, couldn't see a blowing joint but then noticed the Lambda sensor rattling around in its mounting plate unattached. The original nuts had corroded away to nothing and it was lifting under exhaust pressure.
Took the front section off, re threaded ( with a die nut) the studs. Made a gasket out of a bit of 1mm aluminium plate, reasembled and re fitted. Smooth quiet and powerful again. Amazing how a leak round the Lambda sensor made such a difference to the power delivery.


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Proper Job good to see, lucky there was enough meat on the studs to get some purchase, or are they a size smaller now?
 
The studs are made of much harder stuff than the nuts which had disappeared probably through constant heat cycles. Running the die nut down then was just to clean the threads of the residual rust. The nuts are off the steering column flexible joint bolts of a dead 80. Always useful having a breaker handy to get interior fastenings which are invariably like new.
 
Exact same thing happened in mine a few years back; was on the motorway at a fair pace - all of a sudden sounds like a group of Harley riders had surrounded me!

Stopped to check and found the lambda sensor completely out and dangling by the wire.
 
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