HOFS Cruiser

[dollythelw]

Hi, my name is Jez, Im one of the House of Flying Spanners and I've just bought a 1990 HDJ80, UK spec VX with manual gearbox and a 4.2 turbo diesel

when bought it had already been "modified" by the previous owner and had a side exit exhaust that only the mechanical version of Jack the Ripper could love, none of the windows worked and the heater was stuck on "Hades" setting

meh, it was cheap and most importantly the drive train appeared healthy

so back home to the lab she went and in for a wee bit of a tidy up, initially the plans were for a respray and some minor work but as usual the plan went out the window and we started making bits

got bored one evening and gave it a 50mm body lift.... which of course meant stretching the steering column, relocating the rad so the viscous fan is still doing its good work and remaking the bulkhead passthrough for the steering column

I got fed up with carrying overweight Australian scrap many many years ago, so we made this, it weighs 16.5kgs including the HIDs that are built into it



3 weeks of hard work and the cruiser looks like this at the mo;

lots left to do (Im a big fan of Russian style TLCs);

Stuff still to make
front to rear 3" mandrell bent stainless exhaust
160 litre under boot diesel tank
60 litre tank (for where one of the silencers used to live)
Ally/steel rear bumper with wheel carrier
boot storage
suspension
Fridge
Aircon
BEB's
tint the windows and limo black the boot and boot sliding windows
onboard air, welding plant, 240V AC etc etc

We trundle backwards and forwards to Russia, Finland, the CIS countries and Ukraine for our 4x4 Racing obsession so the cruiser has to be a jack of all trades; a general Safari car/tow truck/family car/overlander kinda affair

Hope you like

 

[Graham]

Hmmm, not sure I like the Land Rover badge,,,,,,,

Graham

 

[Jimbo4x4]

Awesome. What's with the green oval? You might kill the truck with that on there

Welcome aboard.

Jim

 

[Rob]

Welcome to the forum. I recognise that truck of ebay a while back.

 

[dollythelw]

Thanks guys, the grill is a bit of a throwback to our race trucks and good for confusing/annoying people - Im just waiting for the green oval sticker that says "Land Cruiser" to turn up from one of the fellas up the road

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Very nice Jez and welcome to the forum. What sort of amperage do you need to tig aluminium that thick? I'm saving up for a TIG welder so I can have a play with making things from aluminium

 

[dollythelw]

thanks Jon, depending on the weld its up to 350amps

 

[Paul_Humphreys]

Welcome Jez, before you say it, yes I am the one on LR4x4

I have seen lots of your work, very good it is.

Paul

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

depending on the weld its up to 350amps

Thanks. That might be a bit unobtainable on single phase 240v but at least it gives me an idea what I won't be able to do!

 

[dollythelw]

you might get an old Synchrowave to do it, they have selectable input to suit various US mains configurations but the cabling required is going to be monster!

the alternative is a Ready welder, 3 car batteries will get you there we use them out in the woods to glue all sorts of stuff together

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

The Ready Welder looks very interesting but I want a tig so I can learn tig welding as much as wanting to weld aluminium. It's just something I'd like to be able to do, that's all. I'll settle for a lower power machine till it gets in my way Thanks for your input.

 

[Gary Stockton]

I'll settle for a lower power machine till it gets in my way

Don't think that will take too long then ...

I'm sure you can find some investors here if it means a place in the Wildsmith Bespoke Components queue

 

[TonyP]

Thanks guys, the grill is a bit of a throwback to our race trucks and good for confusing/annoying people - Im just waiting for the green oval sticker that says "Land Cruiser" to turn up from one of the fellas up the road

What's that based on? Very nice indeed!

 

[callum]

well you managed to get it yellowed pretty quickly!

looks good. its a good early 90's miami colour, especially if you hit the detailing with black.

 

[Crispin]

Some nice looking toys there.

Is the grill from a RR / Disco the only thing that lasts on a landRover??
"Right fellas, we have a RR Sport grill. What chassis can we attach to it?"

 

[dollythelw]

that makes sense Jon - Ive got a Miller Aerowave that cost me quite a few organs that apparently the medical profession view as "essential" although the plumbing section at B&Q seems to be holding up at the mo, if you want to get your hand in my suggestion is college or a cheap scratch start DC plant (can adapt most migs or old arc plants) I can get most people to lay a bead down in an hour from a standing start if you're passing the lab?

And there I was thinking how slow we were Callum , I think we're getting old but it was nice to be able to take a bit of time for a change. Im looking forward to the whole "a bit here and bit there" build schedule instead of 22 hours a day until its done, when I get some more stainless in I will sort a snorkal and the fuel tanks

Tony - the one at the top is a Series Landrover cab and about 1.8m of chassis, all very heavily violated, running an Isuzu 2.8 turbo diesel, R380 gearbox, Volvo portals, double beadlocks, 39.5x18 boggers, high speed hydro winches - it was called "Petal" and competed in the Baltic trophy raids in Prototype class. the one underneath is "Mouse", space frame, 450hp 5.7 litre V8, TKO transmission, volvo portals, 4 speed hydro winches etc etc fast as.. errr.. a fast thing off a shovel,

theres a build vid HERE

Everything scratch built by a squad of nutters in a little barn in Hampshire

holiday snaps if you're interested;

Sad to say but theres not much on any standard 4x4 that will live with proto racing Crispin hence having to build it all, having said that the Transferbox on a Landy is almost godlike in its ability to take a kicking and keep on working

 

[TonyP]

holiday snaps if you're interested;

How deep!!!

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

My obsession is not in the same league as yours so I'll keep all my organs When I've got a machine sorted, which could be a while, I'll see if you're still offering

 

[pugwash]

oi jez change the grill back you splitter!

is this going out to the mill by any chance?

 

[dollythelw]

it'll be going everywhere Jim - how did the big day go? (congrats by the way! )