LJ70 Build Thread!

[Ben]

Been doing a few bits and pieces on the truck the last few days, trying to get it ready for my last laning trip(s) this weekend.

I really should have re-fitted the aerial before I bolted the wing back on. Tried fitting it the other night but couldnt get my hand/arm far enough inside the wing to bolt it on.

Cant remember how I did it the first time.

Anyway decided to leave the aerial for now and get the snorkel fitted.

I noticed when I removed the snorkel that it had worn the paint off the wing and the wing had started to rust.

After rust killing it and giving it a coat of hammerite it was ready for the snorkel to be re-fitted.

I decided that this time I would run a small bead of stikaflex along the snorkel before bolting it up. Hopefully now it wont rub through the paint.

The only fault I can find with the design of the Ironman snorkel is the fact their is no mounting bolts near the front of the snorkel, so ive always had a gap where it meets the wing.

So decided to fill it all in with stikaflex.

Tek screwed the bracket to the new A pillar.

Connected it up to the airbox.

Fitted the windscreen washer bottle.

Remembered I hadnt fitted the rubber bung on the speedo cable.

Managed to find most of the bits of the heater control panel that exploded on removal.

Super glued the bits back in.

Not ideal but will do for now until i find a replacement.

Picked up what will be my last veg oil in the UK. As its so cold I'm currently running 50/50, so that 60 litres will make 120 litres of fuel which should be plenty for what I'm planning!

Sorted a few electrical issues tonight.

The electric fan wasnt working, neither was the stereo or ARB compressor/air locker.

Fan turned out to be a wire had come off the relay. Stereo was a wire that had become disconnected. ARB wasnt working because the earth wire hadnt been reconnected to the earth point on the inner wing.

Just need to refit the CB radio before sunday and get my fuel mixed and in the tank.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Thanks for your advice Ed.

All the falcon's and commodores have big engines which is something I dont want.

A corsa will be much better on fuel, smaller, and for driving round town will be fine. Its only a short term thing, once my truck is on the road I will probably sell it on.

For a few thousand dollars I can get a corsa with Rego and roadworthy. So i can buy it and then just drive it. (rego includes 3rd party insurance).

It's only 3rd Party Person, not property... ie if you hit someone, you're covered for their medical bills but you've still got to pay for the damage to the car/truck/building

If you're going for a Barina it's likely to be an automatic, and 1400 -1600cc as they don't do the small engines. The other option is a Ford Laser (Mazda underneath), Toyota Corrolla, or a Hyundai Accent. My choice would probably be a Hyundai Accent as it seems you can get an OK one for $3k They're a much more common car over there than they are here, and seem to do quite well with the abuse that gets thrown at them.

I'd avoid the Corsa based Barina, (SB or XC) and get the Swift based one (MF, MH) or the Daewoo one (TK) as they were more popular, and parts are cheaper on account of only coming from Japan/Korea as opposed to Europe.

 

[Chris Green90]

Our Kid had an Accent MVI. What a loverly car that was to drive, Gearbox was so smooth and it felt like it went like a bullet with a straight through exhaust. Great fun to drive.

 

[Graham]

There is a lot to be said for the Camry.
Do they have the Crown over there also?

Gra.

 

[Ben]

Thanks Ed, didnt know that about the insurance.

This was the sort of thing I was thinking of.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Holden-B..._Cars&hash=item337e2bf46b&_uhb=1#ht_500wt_949

But I will have a look at the other ones youve suggested.

Im not too fussed what I get, so long as its small and cheap to run. Hopefully it will just be a short term thing.

 

[Ben]

This is within budget.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TOYOTA-L..._Cars&hash=item19d739ebc7&_uhb=1#ht_532wt_932

I'm sure I can overlook the engine size due to the fact its a cruiser!!!

Or I could go for the ugliest cruiser ever produced, the 55.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/fj55-lan..._Cars&hash=item2a26d1c978&_uhb=1#ht_500wt_949

 

[Ben]

So many nice 40's that are almost within budget.

These look awesome.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/toyota-l..._Cars&hash=item3ccd0f865f&_uhb=1#ht_500wt_949

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1979-Toy..._Cars&hash=item4d076be6a4&_uhb=1#ht_732wt_932

 

[Paddler Ed]

That 55 is out in the arse end of no where!

The 40's look OK; the one that's been ginerbeered may well have a Marks Adaptor to fit the V8, as it's a GM V8 so a common swap in the States.

Remember an LPG needs a tank test every 10 yrs, and will be marked with a 6 digit number. Our van passed one RWC, failed one RWC with it's dodgy stamp. It had had the year numbers scratched out, so it appeared that the test was last done in 2006, rather than 1995 when the tank was installed. It costs about $150 depending on tank type, some have one use safety valves, others have a removable bit that is put back in. The tank test checks the exterior of the tank, the mounting and the internal condition, as well as the safety cut out and pressure relief valve. From memory they should 3 solenoids on the system; one on the tank, one on the petrol, and one for the LPG as it goes to the intake/carby/injection system. (that's certainly the case for NSW, and I think that LPG installations are governed by Federal rather than State legislation)

Also with the RWC it's not really worth the paper it's written on! I know them as phoneworthy's...

In VIC the car can't be transfered until it has had a new RWC, and then it doesn't actually need one again until it is sold.

I'd probably avoid that Barina, for the money get a Corrolla or similar Honda product (I'd avoid Nissan), possibly a Hyundai i20 or i30 (I think they'd be in budget if $6k is the top end) or the Kia twin.

You're still in the cheaper state for Rego costs; I think we had it down to $500 for 6 months Rego and CTP for the 'Cruiser, as we had TPF+T on the cars with the NRMA (who did our CTP) In total I think insurance was ball park $800 pa for us, with any driver over 25 covered.

I found that QBE dropped their price after I had a NSW licence, which I had to remain in the country for 6 months before I could get. It then cost me $60, but saved me about $150 on insurance costs on the van. I'm not sure how long you would have to wait to get your VIC one, but I suspect it'll be 6 months or so.

 

[Ben]

Thanks Ed.

I can drive on my UK license for up to 6 months and then I need to get an OZ one.

 

[Paddler Ed]

I think you need to get one ASAP (ie 6 months); we were able to stay on our UK licences the whole time we were out there, but I worked out it was cheaper to get an Aussie one for insurance purposes.

In fact we didn't need to get an Aussie licence because we were on a finite visa, rather than a PR visa.

Double check with VicRoads; my licence number was the same as my NSW customer number for the RTA (now RMA), so it makes dealing with them much easier (I could do most things online as a result)

 

[Mark N]

Ben for the aerial you know there is access from the inside of the engine bay through an access panel (might be tucked behind the washer bottle)?

 

[Ben]

Thanks Mark.

Thats where I was trying to reach the aerial from but I couldnt get my arm up/in far enough.

 

[Ben]

Finally driving Chapel Gate again.

The last time I drove the green lane known as "Chapel Gate" in the Peak District national park, was a few years ago.

Its been quite an extreme lane for a number of years, due to the water erosion and lack of council maintenance, meaning their were 3-4ft rock steps in places.

I always wanted to drive up it but never got around to it, and then the PDNP authority put an experimental TRO on it to close it for 18months.

So I never thought I'd get to drive it again.

But then I heard the PDNP had been taken to court and the lane would now be open again!

http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/news/current-news/disappointment-at-chapel-gate-court-ruling

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-20578727

This is what it looked like last time I drove it a few years ago:-

So with my impending departure from the UK, and the fact that I think this lane will soon be closed permanently, I simply had to drive it.

After struggling to get up the small rock steps I stopped and dropped all the tyres down from 35psi to 20psi. This meant the 12.5" wide tyres were now a few inches wider, giving me a nice big 14-15" wide foot print in the snow.

Pulled over and let a few other trucks past.

This is the only bit of standing water on the whole lane.

My mate was laughing in this pic because id nearly gone arse over tit!

Turned around at the bottom and headed back up.

They have done an excellent job of grading/repairing the lane.

Drainage ditches have been dug down the sides and across the lane to channel the water away from the surface of the lane.

Its now so tame it could be driven in a standard 4x4 on road tyres (in the dry), but that didnt matter! It was just nice to enjoy driving a right of way that I never thought id be able to again.

Normally the rudest ramblers I've encountered when green laning in the UK have always been in the Peak District.

Despite 4x4's only having access to 2% of the rights of way in this area, theyve always been very rude and sometimes angry at our presence.

But today 3 out of the 4 groups we encountered were friendly and smiled and waved!

I'm not sure if this was because we were 1 single 4x4 instead of a group of 4-5 trucks? Or whether it was because we were driving so slowly, we literally crawled down and up the whole lane almost on tick over. We also pulled over and waited for a couple of ramblers to walk down and pass us as they were clearly struggling to walk on the snowy icy lane.

So all in all a nice lane to drive while we were in the area.

 

[AndyCook]

nice pics and nice and snowy

good to see they have repaired it

i took mu subaru forester (the slow non-turbo one to the wifes fast one ) out today and went for a ski
but got stuck in 1-2ft of horrible wet snow on wet grass where i parked, after driving around a badly parked landrover and shogun to get parked

but a bit of shunting and heavy right foot and i was out

 

[munster]

Great pics looks good but as you say tame

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Final laning trip tomorrow.

 

[Graham]

Looks overly tame now, almost like they have killed it.

Gra.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Hey Ben,

Just found this (undated) on the Cooper Tyres website in Aus regarding VIC tyre sizes:
http://www.coopertires.com.au/index.php?page=news&id=51

Looks like you can go 2" up from stock with out it being gingerbeered.

 

[sae70]

Great photos Ben Looks like you had a good day for it I'm just on my way back home from Falmouth with my brothers after a good drinking session luckily enjoying being a passenger for once Looking forward to today's photos, keep the right way up

 

[Ben]

Looks overly tame now, almost like they have killed it.

Gra.

It is Gra, but I'm still really happy that I got to legally drive it once more!

I'm in very little doubt that it will get closed permanently, just like all the other green lanes before long.

Hey Ben,

Just found this (undated) on the Cooper Tyres website in Aus regarding VIC tyre sizes:
http://www.coopertires.com.au/index.php?page=news&id=51

Looks like you can go 2" up from stock with out it being gingerbeered.

Thanks Ed.

Going to have to borrow a set of standard size wheels/tyres when I come to register it, hopefully from Paul.

Once she's on the road the 35's and 37's can go back on!

Great photos Ben  Looks like you had a good day for it I'm just on my way back home from Falmouth with my brothers after a good drinking session   luckily enjoying being a passenger for once  Looking forward to today's photos, keep the right way up 

Thanks Steven.

Meant to reply to your PM but totally forgot, sorry.

managed to keep it on at least 3 wheels today!