Plans are progressing well for the Sydney trip, I'm dropping parts off at 2 addresses and that will pay for the parts I'm picking up.
Decided I cant justify the cost of staying in a motel in Sydney, so the new plan is to leave at 10pm Saturday night, arrive in Sydney at 8am the following morning, drop off and pick up parts then turn around and drive the 10 hours home. Hoping I will only be gone for 25 hours, but if I get tired on the way back I will have to pull over for a little nap.
Anyway...................
Quick update.
I Bolted the freshly machined flywheel on.
Followed by the clutch.
Bolted the engine and gearbox back together.
I bolted the bracket back on that I had tack welded back together, but it was slightly out of alignment and as I tightened the bolts up it cracked.
So with it now bolted in place and the bolts done up tight I put some really good tacks on it.
I then got it clamped back on the bench ready to fully weld.
Welded it with a stainless rod.
Gave it a coat of paint.
And bolted it on.
Before the engine could go back in I needed to sort out the rust underneath the floor pan.
This was the small amount of surface rust I found which I think is pretty bloody good for a 26 year old 4wd.
I decided to loose the rear heater as the pipes going to it were very rusty and obviously if they fail it could strand me some where with no coolant.
I also needed to get rid of this cheap shitty fuel pump a previous owner had fitted, apparantly the alternator died on a 4wd trip and the ECU controlled fuel pump on the engine, shit itself, so they fitted this thing and ran it without a fuel filter.
With those bits removed.
I could tackle the surface rust.
The drill and wire wheels worked well at removing the surface rust.
Found a bit more towards the back of the car and this was a little bit more serious.
So I broke out the big guns!
Which cleaned it up nicely.
After wiping the underside down with a rag soaked in thinners, it was time to give it a coat of this.
I spotted this cracked bit of seamseal which I knew would have rust behind.
Sure enough a bit rusty behind, but luckily I've caught it early enough.
Cleaned it up and treated it.
Pulled the old front suspension off.
Including the bodgy home made spring spacer on the drivers side.
I cleaned up the chassis in the engine bay and treated the small amount of surface rust.
I masked off the rear springs and shocks.
And got the paint and gun ready.
This is the paint I decided to use and I followed the instructions of 2 coats, 16 hours apart.
Painted the whole of the underside of the body and the chassis.
I decided to swap the worn coil springs with the ones off the RJ70that I'm selling, as these ones are badly worn and the front of the 78 was sagging when I bought it.
They looked perfect.
But when I tried fitting them I discovered they wouldnt fit due to the top of the coil springs being slightly smaller.
So for not I decided to borrow the ones off LJ.
If they prove to be right for the 78 I will order another set, if their not stiff enough though I know to order the next ones up.
Jacked it up.
And pulled them off.
On closer inspection they look identical to the ones that came on the 78 that are badly worn.
Just briefly while were looking at LJ's chassis.............................
This is how I originally did the engine mounts when I did the 1KZ swap the first time.
This time will be a lot neater as my design and fabrication skills have improved a lot since then and there wont be any welding to the chassis.
The shocks I pulled off the 78 are in good condition but they had a lot of paint and dirt on them so I gave them a clean up with some thinners.
The drivers side bump stop on the 78 had been destroyed.
Luckily I had a spare.
Only mine was a left hand one and I really need a right hand one.
So I drilled some more holes, where the white dots are on the pic below and elongated the original holes and bolted it on.
I gave the gearbox cross member a good clean up ready for rust converter and paint.
Found some tiny cracks around one of the captive nuts.
Fusion welded them up.
Hung it up and gave it a coat of the rust converter followed by 2 coats of black enamel.
I found an old genuine steering dampener that works well but was a bit rusty and dirty.
Cleaned it up ready for rust converter spray and black enamel.
I cleaned up the replacement steering box.
And gave it a coat or rust converter.
Followed by 2 coats of the black enamel and bolted it on.
It was now time to start fitting some of the freshly painted parts.
Steering dampener and engine mounts first.
With the 2 coats of enamel nice and dry, I jacked the front of the chassis up and fitted the new coil springs.
Shiny electro plated goodies next!
Followed by the shocks.
It was now almost ready for the new engine!
But first I needed to apply something to protect the new paint, which is protecting the underside of the vehicle.
I bought a product that should work well and dug out my old shutz gun.
Last time I used it was 4.5 years ago on LJ prior to exporting it.
And TBH I've not been that impressed with this particular Dinitrol product as it left a greasy layer dirt and dust stuck to it meaning the underside of LJ has always been dirty ever since.
So this time I selected a stone chip product that will dry and leave a flexible rubbery coating over the paint.
It came up good but bloody hell it was messy!
Now it was time to fit the engine!
Pushed the 78 back to the edge of the garage.
And set about lifting the engine and box in.
Had to re-jig the setup a few times to get it to work properly.
But eventually it was roughly in place.
Next I bolted the cross member to the underside of the gearbox.
Then I used my knees to push it up and into position and got some bolts into it.
I lowered the engine down onto blocks of wood sat across the radius arms.
I could then push the 78 back in and get the garage door shut.
Next job is to design and fabricate the engine mount plates to get over the fact the 2lt engine mounts sit 60mm further forwards than the 1KZ.
Then after that I need to design and build the mandrel bent stainless steel 3" exhaust system.
Starting with this restrictive down pipe that I need to replace.
Then I need to get the front inner and outer guards (wings), the panel behind the grill and the replacement rear door off to the panel shop for painting.
Then I can fit those and finish fitting all the engine bay components.
I'm thinking I will buy a Prado 90/120 top mount intercooler and fit that too before the bonnet gets painted, that way I can fit a bonnet scoop.
I'm hoping with the new exhaust, intercooler and boost wound up a bit I should get a few more horses out of the old lump!
