1992 FZJ80 with the 1FZFE: Daily Driver + Tourer

[Paddler Ed]

All good - thanks, there's no rush.

Also just realised that the bar I have a line on is actually a Kaymar bar, not TJM... Doh!

 

[Julian T]

If I remember correctly the Kaymar is a cheaper version of the TJM.

 

[Julian T]

Paddler Ed Here for you are two pictures that I hope help you out, sadly my truck has been standing for a while is in not looking so good at the moment, in need of some tlc obviously.
First pic is what you can see of the rear bumper, next two are from underneath on the left side.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Sorry Julian, I did see the pictures the day after you posted them, but forgot to acknowledge them!


So, we went away a fortnight later, and had a look at one of the racks I'd been thinking about as the "off the shelf"ish solution as there was a local stockist:

Adventure Series Racks for Cars, SUVs & 4WDs | GripSport

The ‘Adventure’ Series For extreme off-road And for everything in between

www.gripsport.com.au

and their option for the trailer drawbar:

Bike Racks & Carriers | Gripsport | Melbourne | Australia

Australian designed & made bike rack, full steel construction, lifetime guarantee ... enough said!

www.gripsport.com.au

BUT

I decided they were good at what they did, but to use the trailer rack on the car was too compromised.

So I looked at the other one, that I had previously dismissed because I wasn't sure about the solution. Now that the Minister for War and Finance had seen what I was thinking, we were back to these ones:

iSi Modular Bicycle Carrier - Extreme Duty 4x4x2 Bicycle Carrier

4x4 bycycle carrier, bike rack, bike hitch, ofroad bike hauler

www.isi-carriers.com

That'll end up like this (this one hangs back a bit further because there's a swing away on the back):

There is now a 2 bike rack with the car and drawbar mount on it's way to me... well, currently being made, and hopefully in the post end of this coming week. Because of the space we have on the drawbar, we are limited as to what we can fit, so we had to be a bit creative with getting clearance over the spare tyre; we end up with something like this with a zero offset upright but not as tall:

 

[Paddler Ed]

And the big news....




After nearly 12 months of ownership (14 days or so short of 12 months) and 11 months of having the part on the shelf, I finally replaced the broken driver's door exterior handle:

So strange having the proper door handle!

Only took 30minutes to pull the door card out and fit the new handle.




Of course, clearing up took longer... 20minutes to clean up the box of electrical connections that decided to open itself up in the bag of tools:

There's 15+ of most connectors in there...

And after 11.5 months of ownership, here's the Fuelly for it:

So it gets used a decent amount - and that's with minimal travel in the last 5 months...

 

[Paddler Ed]

Got more new bits - the rack arrived on Wednesday, so I got it all fitted up:

First on the 80:

The bracketry would put Bad Obsession to shame:

So after that, it was over to setting it up on the trailer:

So pretty happy with how all of that fits up....

 

[Paddler Ed]

Quick weekend away to the Hot Springs for a weekend soaking:

Helps that our trailer is only about 750kg loaded, so the old girl only notices the added drag rather than the weight.

First time out in the camper since March when my parents were over, so have ended up with a few things to fix (like some mold spores on some of the canvas...), which means the camper is now set up in the back yard to air out continue operation kill mold spores.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Got a new hat on the last trip, and it's too good to just throw in the car (like the old one did), so I've ended up with a hat holder in the car now:

Old hat (Barmah Squasy) on the left, new hat (Akubra Riverina) on the right:

Hat rack:

I didn't want to drill any holes, but I found that the grab handle offered (just) enough space for it to be mounted up to there after I used a tracing of the bracket to work out where it was going to go:

Did need to file out the bracket a touch so it took the M8 nut

With hat in:

Really nicely up and out of the way, and can't get blown out the door either!

Downside to this write up is the cracked windscreen we got on Friday night after hitting a bird at 11pm at 50ish mph.... solves the problem of the chip, and hopefully the leaking windscreen! Insurance is picking up the tab, and we get a new windscreen rubber as well.

Think we counted 10 cracks in all across the windscreen - luckily most were on the passenger side, so it's still been drivable(ish).

 

[Paddler Ed]

So.... a month ago I spotted a Daihatsu F25 Taft/Scat sitting at the back of the local breakers yard - I was keeping an eye out for one for @Ben as we'd been talking about them not long ago.

Well, I saw it on the Friday, went in on the Monday and the guy I needed to see wasn't in, so back in on Wednesday to talk to him at lunchtime, decided by the end of the day we were taking it and back in on the Thursday with the trailer:

June 1980 plated Daihatsu F25 Scat with the 12R engine. Drums all round, 4 speed, and everything works (to some extent).

80 was put into use (it has the trailer brake controller, the 45 doesn't) and it was home for the princely sum of $450 (~£270)

(Oh, and the 80 has extendable mirrors fitted which are great with the trailer on, not so good in town as they create a fantastic blind spot for the missus)

So, the Scat got cleaned up a bit and the interior pulled out:

Two (yes, only 2) rust holes found in the cab - the battery box is pretty rough though, seats need redoing (this weeks job is to drop them off to one of the local auto trimmers to work their magic and lighten my pocket a fair bit). As you can see, the seats have a great 1970s/80s racing strip theme going on, which I want to keep!

Already been put to work out in the paddock on firewood duty, where we worked out the brakes were lacking

And this would be why the brakes were a bit lacking: the front shoes were a bit worn out...

So that's the story of another addition to the fleet... joins the 1978 HJ45, 1991 Yamaha XT600, 1994 FZJ80, 2007 Yamaha WR250, 2010 Holden Commodore VE SSV Ute (because everyone needs a 6.0 V8 ute.... or so the missus thinks) and the 2017 Honda Grom.

Holden Ute on it's old wheels (now onto some genuine Holden wheels):

I give up.... luckily, 3 of those will go onto club rego this year, starting in May with the HJ45 and the Scat, and then the XT in September.