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Doodle's KZJ95

Doodle

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Messages
939
Garage
By all rights, I should be driving a product of Solihull - my 4x4-owning friends are all die-hard green oval people. But for the available budget, we hit a problem.

Defender/110 - too small in the cabin
Mk1 Disco - invariably a nasty rotbox
Rangie Classic - you pay over the odds for a good one, the others have been run in the ground
P38 - Well, I actually want to get where I'm going. And if I get there, I'd like to get back again too.

And so end up at the beginning of our tale - with the acquisition of a LC 95.

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It's green, and the badge is oval-shaped. I'm claiming I misheard what they were saying :eusa-shhh: The intention is to prep it for general off-road fun, but in the short term I'm readying it for the MAC 4x4 next year. It came with a stack of provenance, full service history and with all appearances of having led an easy life. Everything worked, nothing was broken or missing and it was clean and tidy. Sold to the man with the bundle of 50s.

First job on the list was to sort out the rubber. Out with a set of part worn Grandtreks, in with some slightly larger Grabber AT2s.
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A Safari Snorkel crossed my path for naff all money and was snapped up. It's probably slightly overkill, but it's a cheap insurance policy if I get a little over-enthusiastic with water crossings. It also means that I can avoid the massive traffic jams on the A339 roadworks by taking the shortcut through the ford. It's the same ford that claimed the judge earlier this year and gets pretty deep, probably pushing the limits of the standard wading ability.
For some reason I had a bit of a mental block when it came to drilling into a perfectly serviceable wing, so my dad did for me.
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I'd started to sort out the lighting with some standoff plates and spotlight steadies to mount up a set of Hella Luminators
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but after last weekend it looks like the plans will be changing a little. Stopped by Dave Bowyer's stand at the Newbury 4x4 show and ended up walking away with one of his TDS 9.5 winches, and a contact for a prototype winch bumper that shouldn't cost the earth.
 
Very nice, now where on earth ore the pictures,

Oh, and I see you have just found the slippy slope.

Gra.
 
Slippery slope? You're telling me.

Buying the winch means I need a winch mount or bumper. The extra weight of that means that I'll need new springs to level up the front end, and that means new shocks :doh:
To be honest that's no bad thing, coming back from the show 4-up with a winch, Series 3 bonnet and rad shroud in the boot felt *very* wallowy.

I fancy a set of Bilstein shocks, but what springs to pair with them? :think:
 
:text-goodpost:

Any more plans for it after the suspension? :icon-biggrin:
 
Bigger wheels,,,,,,,,,,,,, he he he

Gra.
 
Keep up the excellent work. Would you like us to add things to the list for you?

I'm just glad that you didn't open with the words "It's my intention to keep it fairly standard" :laughing-rolling:

It's never happened yet. I have said it three times myself!

You should be coming to Lincomb this weekend for some inspiration

Chris
 
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Keeping it standard doesn't really happen in my world :lol: everything gets modified, it's just varies how far it goes. It's sharing driveway space with an old AMG'd Merc SL and a tweaked Ducati Multistrada I commute every day on. Even my current workhorse (Merc E-class estate) has a hefty install under the boot floor.

Unfortunately I'm tied up this weekend so can't make it to Lincomb, but the current list of works runs as follows (in no particular order).

Finish the new recovery points (12mm steel)
ASFIR underside plates should be arriving later this month.
Sort out a winch bumper, fit the winch.
Wire up lighting and other electrics.
New shocks - probably Bilstein. New springs to match, not worried about too much lift, but no idea who to go to for those.
Fabricate a set of rock sliders (already have the steel stock)
 
Very nice, look forward to seeing how you progress. Slippery slope indeed!
 
Progress is somewhat slowed due to the fact that the Israelis are being a bunch of workshy trade unionists - just make my plates and send them, dammit - and excruciatingly slow responses regarding potential purchases.

The indifference is incredulous when it's obvious you're hot to trot and want to make an order sharpish. It's to the point where I'm almost having to force my money into their pockets.
 
Well, some progress has been made over the weekend, got an afternoon in the garage to make up some recovery points. 4 bits of 1/2" L-section, drilled and shaped. Now awaiting a couple of coats of Hammerite.

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doodle how have you got on with the winch bumper any leads yet?
 
dont forget your ASFIR front guard bolts to the same place as I am guessing you are intending putting the tow eyes
 
doodle how have you got on with the winch bumper any leads yet?

Well....that bumper has been a source of constant headache since I bought the winch. I'm not sure if it's been apathy or just poor customer contact, but I've been beating my head against the wall trying to make progress with this supplier. The only reason I've kept at it is the price is considerably cheaper than the other options...£1k+ for an ARB bumper makes no sense on a £3.5k car.

I would make my own but time is not really on my side at the moment, so I've reached an ultimatum - if there's no progress when I get back from Italy next month, I'm just going to order the SV bumper from Freeways. It's over twice as much but at least I'll actually have it, and quickly.

dont forget your ASFIR front guard bolts to the same place as I am guessing you are intending putting the tow eyes

Yep, bought different bolts to allow for this in the future. Speaking of which, I'll chase up TBR next week to find out what's happening.
 
In more positive news, I'll be finishing off my rock sliders this morning. :dance:
 
Well, the prototype of the rocksliders has now been completed. I'm glad I made the push to get them installed before my trip to Wales this weekend as they got pinged a couple of times - without them it would have been the sills that took the hit.

Drilling the base plates
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Cutting the rails with the plasma cutter
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Assembly complete
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I had to do some last minute adjustments to get it right, probably a result of being ill while making them and rushing slightly but nothing that I will bother rectifying for the finished items. They need to come back off to be painted (didn't have time before departure), and I will probably put some bracing on the outriggers just for security, although they seemed plenty strong enough during this weekend's tests.

The trip did show up the deficiencies in the suspension though - after 140k it's well past its best and bottoms out very easily at the back. Time for new springs and shocks, but which to choose? :think:
 
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And lo, a miracle in the midst.

Just had a call from TBR, the ASFIR plates should be here tomorrow.
 
doodle how have you got on with the winch bumper any leads yet?

Well, it must be Christmas time. Had a call to say they're ready, hoping to get them fitted towards the end of next week.
 
Them rock sliders look "super duty"
I am sure they are not going to bend.

Gra.
 
They're 5mm steel throughout, so perhaps a little overkill! Going to take them off at Xmas for a tidy up and paint.
 
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