Andy's LWB Zuke

[ferris]

Yeah iv got a set of fronts and rears. I bought mine second hand but the guy originally got them from those guys on ebay. If you check the add for the front springs they are marked as standard duty and yes the front ones flex great.
I'v had those heavy duty rear ones on my SJ for about 18 months and they work well for everyday use. Just cant get as much flex as i would like out of them when im off road. Not to sure what there like to alter, but surely cant be to hard. I'l probably try and remove the bottom 2 leafs when i eventually get round to changing my axles.

[Anton]

Scottie had some cheap shocks that seem to have worn well but I can't remember what they are.

Astra shocks, with the pins converted to eyes by welding on rings, right?

The other suggestion was Rav4 shocks. Someone with a shiney SJ fitted them, I just can't remember who right now...

Seen Rav4 shocks on the bay for £20 a pop. That's gotta be cheaper than ES1000's. Having said that, I have a set of ES1000's I knicked off a junker, I just haven't gotten around to fitting them to my SJ...

[donkeychomp]

How about a set of these. Don't be fooled, they are KYB shocks, £19 a pop.

[ScottieJ]

Yeah mine are KYb astra shocks, they work well offroad but are a bit stiff on road in the back because of the lack of weight.

Rough country aren't that much better than pro comps but you can get them from llama4x4

One day I'll actually get around to ordering some bilstein 5125s from the US

[AndyD]

Thanks for the help and info guys. I'm gonna start new threads for any item specific questions I have, and I'm making a start on the car this weekend so pics to follow...

[AndyD]

So I've actually made a physical start now;
Taken off the bumpers and arches to find a very shocking amount of rust (barely any!)

Bumperless front;

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Bumperless rear;

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Rust-free arches!

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Worst place which will need patching is the front n/s corner but that's old crash damage.

Old crash damage;

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Started stripping everything out of the engine bay.

Engine bay strip-down begins;

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And got the 1.6 on a ghetto engine stand for some refurbing...

Simple engine stand;

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[twiss]

Nice carpet

[Anton]

Nice wall - it looks almost like Tim sprayed his doors against it!

[AndyD]

Well, it's been a while!...
Other commitments pushed this aside for a while but I'm back on it now.
So I thought I'd give a quick update on what I've been up to;

Firstly, the 1.6 engine refurb has turned into a complete rebuild! (why not eh?!)
Currently all in bits being cleaned, everything's in great shape (can't have had too much of a hard life), got a bit more cleaning to do and source the parts i need and then reassembly can start.

A 1.6 in pieces!

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A nicely cleaned up piston:

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The block's nearly clean...

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A simple way to organize the head components:

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[AndyD]

Then I finally got round to getting the TIG welder I always wanted!

Built myself a nice trolley for it by modding a cheap tool trolley:

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Welding Project No. 1 was to make a jack adapter for the axles...
I treated this as TIG practice 101. (Done a lot of MIG and Oxy/Acet before but never TIG).
Lots of nice different angles in this frame design so got some good practice down

The basic frame:

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Close up on some of the beads:

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The finished article:

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Then mini project No. 2 was to make some extended axle stands to lift the beast up high enough for the new springs, wheels and tyres (basically just tube with a V welded to the top).
This was also nice practice as the plate was about twice as thick as the tube, I pre-ran a bead round the end of the tube at low amps to avoid burning through, then welded this to the plate at a higher amperage to get a good solid weld bead all round.
This is the front sitting on the stands at their lowest setting;

Up on the new axle stands:

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I must say, I am now absolutely in love with my TIG!
Next step is to try my hand on some Aluminium... (yes, converted manifold for SU is on the cards!)