LJ70 Build Thread!

[Paddler Ed]

That's a similar set up to the dump/construction trucks that you see on the road as well, so it's got to be the easiest solution.

 

[Ben]

That's a similar set up to the dump/construction trucks that you see on the road as well, so it's got to be the easiest solution.

Yeah I've seen a lot of 4wd's and big trucks running mud flaps like this.

I don't really like them and not sure how long they will be last, but if it means I can drive LJ without getting stopped by the police then so be it.

Hoping to do a little welding project this week.

Then in the next few months I want to build an internal roll cage with integrated cargo barrier.

Super excited about next weekends 4 day 4wd trip to the High Country. There might even be some snow around.

Lots of exciting things happening over here at the moment but don't want to say too much just yet.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Then in the next few months I want to build an internal roll cage with integrated cargo barrier.

Super excited about next weekends 4 day 4wd trip to the High Country. There might even be some snow around.

Try to get some of the places that are selling off the mines trucks; one of our friends run an ex mines HiLux double cab with a ROPS cage internal/bulkhead of the tray so that can give some inspiration. IIRC the pitfall with theirs is that you can't change the bulb in the interior light... The top mount for the seat belt is through the roll cage and then into the original ones in the B pillar

On the snow, yep there is snow; the guy who took my job that I had when my sponsorship fell through has just been upto Snowy river and the VIC High Country for his part of their honeymoon (her's was Fiji). He was up there about 2 weeks ago and there was a dusting, and the Aussie ski season traditionally starts Queen's Birthday Weekend.

 

[clivehorridge]

Ben, two ace trips and superb write-up as usual. Well done mate and great to see the car up and running! Like the plan for a cage.

Good to see the mighty 80 in action and what fun the zuke driver must have had, romping up the hill that failed all the others!

You're obviously brewing something up, I'd like to think it was an 80 of your own, but I'll wait and see....

 

[Victor]

Ben, where'd you buy this:

My hose against the turbo is cracked, and i need to do something about it, and though of getting rid of the stock filter box and running something like this for a better match against the snorkel...

 

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Ben, where'd you buy this:

My hose against the turbo is cracked, and i need to do something about it, and though of getting rid of the stock filter box and running something like this for a better match against the snorkel...

Is yours a 2.4?

The turbo to air box hose on mine had split but I managed to get another one. Obviously not needed anymore as I fitted the 3 litre engine. I might still have it either here or in the UK if you want it?

The airbox was a Pipercross Venom induction kit. Not cheap but was good quality. I bought it second hand off ebay.

 

[Victor]

Actually, i was out shoppin for the toyota today (managed to spend $400) and found a kit, so gonna fit it tomorrow

 

[Ben]

I'm thinking of buying one of these:-

http://mypolaris.com.au/hud/indexflash.html

Should make my driving a bit safer as I seem to be spending far too much time looking down at the speedo.

There are unmarked camera cars parked everywhere even on back streets in the dark. Also the speed limits are ridiculously low! Like 60mph on a brand new and un-congested 3 lane motorway.

Certainly makes heading bush and escaping it, all the more enjoyable!

Actually, i was out shoppin for the toyota today (managed to spend $400) and found a kit, so gonna fit it tomorrow

 

[Paddler Ed]

I'm thinking of buying one of these:-

http://mypolaris.com.au/hud/indexflash.html

Should make my driving a bit safer as I seem to be spending far too much time looking down at the speedo.

There are unmarked camera cars parked everywhere even on back streets in the dark. Also the speed limits are ridiculously low! Like 60mph on a brand new and un-congested 3 lane motorway.

Certainly makes heading bush and escaping it, all the more enjoyable!

I like the look of that... I wonder how well that would work with Polarised sunglasses...

In NSW 100kmh is pretty much the norm on a Highway, the Freeway is sometimes 110kmh. Motorways around Sydney can be anything from 80 - 110kmh, depends on where they are (the M4 is the worst for this... strangely, just like the one in the UK!)

The problem is that the size of stuff that you may hit... you stand more of a chance stopping/avoiding it at 60mph than you do at 70mph.

Also the fuel saving is worth the time cost...

I did read your post as the motorway had a limit of 60kmh at first...

 

[Ben]

I like the look of that... I wonder how well that would work with Polarised sunglasses...

In NSW 100kmh is pretty much the norm on a Highway, the Freeway is sometimes 110kmh. Motorways around Sydney can be anything from 80 - 110kmh, depends on where they are (the M4 is the worst for this... strangely, just like the one in the UK!)

The problem is that the size of stuff that you may hit... you stand more of a chance stopping/avoiding it at 60mph than you do at 70mph.

Also the fuel saving is worth the time cost...

I did read your post as the motorway had a limit of 60kmh at first...

Agreed but the stuff I might hit is no different to the UK, if anything there is less to hit because theres a lot less traffic on the road.

I'm used to sitting on UK motorways at 85-90mph eating the miles up, to then drop down to 60mph is taking some getting used to.

 

[Paddler Ed]

I've not seen any Roo's on the road here...

Mind you I don't think I notice the difference as I've been on a massive money saving drive and tend to travel at 70 instead of 80...

The other thing was our van (Mazda E2000) never went above 100kmh very happily until we rebuilt the engine!

The Cruiser was quite happy at 120kmh... but the fuel gauge dropped quicker than a stone!

 

[kamaal]

WOW ! nearly 374,000 views ! Well done Roger,

 

[TonyP]

WOW ! nearly 374,000 views ! Well done Roger,

erm... Ben you mean

 

[kamaal]

Ben sorry !

 

[Ben]

Thanks.

I'm aiming for a million views!

I've not seen any Roo's on the road here...

Mind you I don't think I notice the difference as I've been on a massive money saving drive and tend to travel at 70 instead of 80...

The other thing was our van (Mazda E2000) never went above 100kmh very happily until we rebuilt the engine!

There are no roo's on the motorways here in Melbourne Ed, theres big fences down the sides of the road.

It was more of a passing comment really about the ridiculously slow speed on the motorway here.

 

[Ben]

OK update time!

The rear bumper took a hit last time I was off road and it was enough for it to be pushed into the body work slightly and brush the paint off.



So I decided a bracket was needed to add some strength, particularly on the drivers side as that side has the weight of the spare wheel hanging off it.

I raided the scrap metal bin and started cutting some of the bits I found to size on the cold cut saw.





The idea was to make a bracket that would clamp around the chassis and then extend out to the bumper.





Cleaned the cut edges up on the linisher.





Marked and center punched the metal.



Drilled the holes with a 5mm bit.





Then drilled them out to 10mm.



Clamping and welding everything together.







Trial fitting.







I had a cunning plan for how to attach the bracket to the bumper without drilling and bolting through the bumper which would have looked terrible.

Cut 2 50mm long pieces of 50mm x 10mm flat.



Turned the cold cut saw to cut some triangles to use as gussets.







Drilled the 50mm squares.



Welded a gusset in place.



Welded one of the 50mm squares on one end of the bracket.









Fitted the bracket in place and marked through the hole in the 50mm square onto the bumper.





Put a bolt through the other 50mm square and welded around the nut to form a captive nut.







Gave it a coat of paint.





Drilled a 25mm hole in the bumper using a hole saw.





50mm square with captive nut welded on ready to be welded onto the bumper.



With the square welded on with the captive nut fitting in the 25mm hole I gave it a coat of paint and could then bolt the new bracket in place.

It was a bit fiddly but I found the easiest way to do the chassis bolt up was above the rear bumper.





New bracket in place.





Still need to make one for the other side, but that will be a bit trickier because the exhaust is in the way, but I've worked out a clever way of solving this problem.

So that was a little project I did one of the nights last week.

The weekend was spent doing some work on my mate Michael's house building a new veranda.







The stainless steel wire was quite time consuming but looked good in the end.















My E tags turned up last week. One for LJ and one for my Astra. These enable me to use all the toll roads over here and mean I no longer have to call up/go online and make payment within 3 days of using a toll road.



The instructions said to put it behind the rear view mirror, but on LJ it looked terrible as it was a big white lump below the TJM logo.



So I fitted it in the top corner of the screen instead, meaning its not visible as its behind the sun screen area.



I will have to wait till I'm next on a toll road to see if it beeps when I go under one of the gantries to prove it is working.

with a big 4wd trip planned for this weekend I wanted to get the oil in the rear diff changed as it was fast approaching the 500km (300 miles) since the new diff went in. The guy who built the diff for me said to change the oil at 500km then 1000km.

I took LJ for a spin to get the diff oil nice and warm, It also got the speedo a bit closer to 300 miles.



Dropped the oil.



A small amount of swarf on the magnetic drain plug. These could have been bits I hadn't managed to clean out of the axle.



When I cleaned the plug on a rag it was clear it was more like metal fillings than actual chunks of metal, so maybe its just the new ring and pinion running in.



Certainly a lot dirtier than when it went in.



De-canted some oil into my small 1 litre bottle.



And squirted it into the diff.



So LJ is almost ready for the trip.



This weekend is a long weekend as Monday is a public holiday to celebrate the Queen's birthday.

So 4 days of 4wding and camping in the Victorian High Country is what I've got planned.

 

[Leopard]

Nice Ben! Looking forward to the trip report!

 

[Ben]

This is what I have been doing workwise for the past month. Fitting a kilometer of plastic fencing.

Nice Ben! Looking forward to the trip report!

Thanks mate.

I'm really excited about the trip should be a good one.

 

[Paddler Ed]

There are no roo's on the motorways here in Melbourne Ed, theres big fences down the sides of the road.

It was more of a passing comment really about the ridiculously slow speed on the motorway here.

Ah... the fencing up in NSW can be a bit sketchy at times!

Do you have the same mix of confusing road types? In NSW there's the Pacific Highway which varies between being a Freeway (F3) which is 3 lanes and 110kmh on the whole, and then just a common highway after Newcastle where it can be 2 lanes or even single lane (and 100kmh on the whole, but can be less), or you've got the M4 which is a motorway to Penrith (with about 4 or 5 speed limits, from 60kmh to 110kmh) and then changes to being the Great Western at Penrith and is back down to Highway grade which means it's lucky dip on speed.

 

[Ben]

OK guys big announcement time!!!

Today I did a trial day for one of the big 4wd accessory companies over here. My main task for the day was to design and fabricate 3 pairs of extended leaf spring shackles.

They had a huge amount of metal and every machine imaginable. It went well and at the end of the day they offered me a full time job!

My job will mainly be welding and fabricating bull bars, rock sliders, battery trays, and roll cages. I will also be involved in helping to design and develop new parts and accessories, and also with the fitting of some of the things they manufacture and sell.

I'm also going to get qualified in welding and fabrication which will be very useful when the time comes to go work in the mines.

I don't want to name the company with this being a public forum, but if anyone wants to know which company feel free to PM me.