Post
by NylonAdmiral » Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:59 am
I bought it looking similar to how you've got it. It was already traybacked, already had the badly done shackle reversal and had been poorly looked after. in general In fact, the whole thing was a bit of a shambles. I made the mistake of buying it on ebay without going to see it first. It was delivered on a car transporter - I'll never, ever do that again!
The first time I drove it, I made it about 3 miles before the engine seized. I'd been completely ripped off with it really.
I subsequently found the gearbox needed replacement, the props all bound up, the axles leaked from every possible orifice, the engine was a write off, the springs were flogged, the t-box wouldn't stay in gear, the bushes were flogged etc etc and the whole thing needed a complete overhaul. This all seemed odd as I had bought it with a 'fresh MOT', however, when I did a bit of digging I found that the previous owner had worked at a place that did MOTs so you can draw your own conclusions from that.
I had a 1.6 8v put in, replaced everything that was wrecked, fitted rebuilt Samurai axles and 413 diffs, replaced the gearbox & tbox, springs, bushes etc. With Scotties' help I sorted out all the driveline geometry so nothing bound up anymore. Took the body off and completely stripped and repainted the chassis and the cab. Replaced all the brakes, fitted rear discs etc etc. I spent a fair amount of money on it but when it was done it was great. I drove it around for a few years and whilst I used it for what it was built for, I always looked after it. If we'd been out laning I'd clean all the mud off, regrease all the UJs, clear any drain holes etc. and I often actually daily drove it to work.
The reason I decided to get rid of it was that although the trayback looked ace, it was totally impractical. The truck has no storage and it's quite hard to carry anything in it if you have a passenger. I wanted to do more, longer trips and be able to take camping stuff in it which didn't work very well. And like I say, daily driving it I wanted something where I could just throw the shopping in the back!
I'd also learned a lot about what makes a good truck over the years of owning it and I kind of wanted to start again with some of the suspension stuff. I wanted to go for something without the shackle reversal or the SPOA, but undoing the shackle reversal was not really worth the effort, and the whole kind of lifted/ridiculous look of the truck is part of it's character which I really liked so felt it was better to move on to something different and start again. I loved owning that thing though, I spent a small fortune on it and did many miles in it. It was a great truck!
I sold it to a guy who seemed to be genuinely a nice lad who wanted to use it and didn't really seem to mind about a lot of the drawbacks I pointed out to him. I was really sad to see it go but wanted to do something different. He then sold it on to someone else I think but I'm not 100% sure about that.
I can't really tell you about the electrical stuff as when I had it, it had the minimal loom required to run the engine and the lights, that was about it. After I sold it, it seems to have had a bunch of other lights and stuff fitted but that all came after my ownership. I vaguely recall the guy I sold it to telling me he had fitted a small winch but can't see that in your pics. The front end also looks different, does it maybe have some sort of mesh beneath the grill? I didn't fit that either.
I hope you can give it a new lease of life and keep it on the road a while longer. Let me know if I can help with anything else.
1.6 16v, Rock Lobster, PAS, Muddyzook rear disc conversion, coated in Raptor, 33in x 10.5, heated seats, lovingly restored by Scottie!
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