Miller's 1972 MWB

[miller]

So im still waiting on my rear U-bolts and high tensile bolts for the steering box so im kinda in limbo til they arrive. Ive been brain storming a way to make a dual carrier for the back. On one side have the spare tyre as standard and on the other have 2 jerry cans. Ive been a little apprehensive to start as i know my welding skills arnt the best but i figured id give it a crack today.

I wanted it to look "factory" so im using a spare wheel carrier i have for the base.

First off i cut up the top bracket so it could be rearranged to suit the drivers side. I also had to cut the bottom out of it and flip it over as the hole is offset.



All welded up


Measured out the bottom bracket and bolted it on for now. I needed to weld a spacer on the bottom bracket as the hole had become elongated, i have left some room for more shims so the fit can be fine tuned later.


Next cleaned up the locating pin from one of my parts rigs and welded it to the tub. The steel is nice and thick along the bottom rail so i was able to get a strong weld. As you can see i am improving, i just need to try and keep my lines straight!



and finally the mock up. I havnt got a photo since its all been welded in place but this gives you a ruff idea of my plan!


Tomorrow i will build a frame to strengthen the tub. Here is the dual jerry can holder i will probably be using..

[miller]

So had a couple of hours to burn this arvo and made some progress.
Bolted in the '64 steering box and fitted the freshly painted wheel.. Note this is a 72 with a three post wheel :thumbup: Im not sure if i will leave the centre ring red or get it chromed?? ill see how it sits with me.


Then i bolted up the inner engine bay panels and grill. She's starting to take shape even if it does look a little ghetto with miss match panels. I then re fitted the boosted brakes and newly reconditioned clutch master.



I hope to get some time to bolt on the front guards then i can re run my wiring and she'll be almost ready to fire up again!






yeah shes tight in the back end

[miller]

Ok so heres whats come of the weekend.

THE GOOD

Indicators hooked up and lens' on - Working fine.

Parker lights are in and lens' on - Working fine.

Cleaned up wiper wiring

Changed early 60's indicator plug to suit later model loom

Rewired the washer bottle and mounted it - Working fine

THE BAD

Headlights trip fuse when switched on

Horn relay is playing up (got a new relay and still having trouble).. Is the "Switched" pole hot when the button is pushed?

Wiper motor is dead

Rear wiring loom is faulty, it looses power somewhere along the line


On the weekend i discovered the wiper motor was dead so needed to change it out. Couple of issues with this, 1. I have 3 '77 wiper motors and no early 70's ones.. 2. '72 and '77 motors are different!!

So tonight thought id try and make a '77 motor work. Heres the 2 side by side.


As you can see the ball on the motor is much larger on the '72.

So i got some spare wiper parts from my stash and cut and welded the two to make a the later model motor fit the arm.


All installed.. new vs old. :thumbup:

[miller]

Ive made my final list for roadworthy on the whiteboard in my shed and im pretty sure its got everything i need listed! That means as i cross it off im one more step closer to getting it registered! :thumbup:

Spoke with the brake and clutch shop next to me at work and they will have my patrol for the 3 weeks im in America for a complete brake overhaul. This will actually work out really well as i was worried about the time i would loose working on the car while away. They are gonig to look after me with the cost but i still imagine its going to cost a fair bit :sick:

Theres still a few parts that need cleaning up like mirror, visors etc but this can be done if i have time after roadworthy.

So heres the photos..

Wipers finished, visors on, dash assembled and mirror on.


Early model indicator stalk finished and installed for good


Indicators and parkers in..


The '72 was missing the original rear indicator mounts so i saved a pair from my '64 parts rig and welded them on. I also relocated the taillights because with the 34'" spare you cant actually see the one on the passenger side so now they are a bit lower. I think they still kinda look factory


Wiring is coming along... still needs more attention though!


No real update for a while so here goes..

Brakes, bearings, swivel hubs, seals, and new brake lines all done.



AVM hubs in.


New extended and beefed up swaybar links


and finally the doors and part of the soft top frame on.

[miller]

Upon closer inspection from a mechanic mate of mine the decision was made to pull the '72s engine BEFORE rego. There were a few small things that made one big nail for the coffin. The gear box was also a rusty mess and would need replacing regardless of work done on the engine.

So that said it leads me to this...


Today i left home at 5:30am to go pick up MrMuck 1.5hrs away. We then drove another 2 hours to his brothers to grab the engine out of "Oz Roger".


It wasnt the most ideal conditions for "pulling a P" so out came the grinder and Muck lopped off the front crossmember.


We both grabbed a couple of other goodies, loaded up then hit the road (not before we grabbed a couple of cold ones for the trip tho :thumbup: )


Dropped Muck off with his tools and the 5 speed off OzRoger. Ill be using my 3 speed and transfer from the '77. Got home and finished pulling the '72 engine just before it got dark.



Went and picked up the '77 engine from storage tonight ready for the big weekend ahead. Ive had a pretty shitty week with some hefty personal crap going on so my major working bee i had planned has been put on hold. Instead I have a mate coming over Saturday for a few hours and Muck might swing by on Sunday.

So I got a little suprise when I picked up the '77 engine. I realised it has a dual pulley on the front and a mounting bracket for i guess a endless air compressor.. stoked! Ill pull the pulley and put it on the OzRoger P.
I cant believe i missed this originally..



Ill be using the gearbox and transfer off this engine on OzRoger's engine. I had the flywheel machined and clutch checked over. Pick these up in the morning and hope to have it in by the end of the weekend.

Working tomorrow morning which is a bit of a bummer but looking forward to getting into around lunch time.

Finish off with a pic as I left it all tonight.. 3 P's and the '72 ready for work :thumbup: my neighbours must be loving me right now

[miller]

Ok so im not posting any photos till its finished but here an update from the last couple of days..

Saturday arvo Mr Muck came over for a few hours. We had plenty of hurdles along the way but geez it was good having some help! Thanks again Darren!
Saturday:
1. Removed pilot bush from engine #3 (PITA!)
2. Cut off drive from old gearbox to use as alignment tool
3. Installed Clutch and flywheel
4. Bolted up gearbox and transfer
5. Changed out old worn engine mounts
6. Dropped engine in (spent WAY too long tring to get front mounts to line up )

Sunday:
1. Installed front clip and radiator
2. Made tailgate
3. Painted doors and hood
4. Bolted on Carb
5. Installed new belt and alternator
6. New coil
7. Ran front loom
8. Removed linkaged from '77 box ready to install.

Monday night:
1. More work on the tailgate
2. Made number plate bracket for 2nd rear carrier
3. Wired up number plate
4. Wired Alternator
5. Wired Starter
6. Wired rest of the engine bay
7. Wired tail/stop and indicators
8. Ran new cables for the battery
9. Removed dash pieces ready for paint
10. Plumbed new fuel lines/filters to pump and carbie

Then at 11:45pm I poured some fuel down the carbie, turned the key and…. SHE’S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!
It sounded like a top fuel dragster with the extractors cut off at the chassis rails!

Im having some tie-rod issues so i couldnt roll it out in the open for some real photos so these will have to do.

As you can see i ditched the red and have now joined the Olive Drab club. Its Australian Army equipment drab green. Matt finish and quite different to Mucks.

[miller]

Bloody hot today so finished work early.. had the Friday CBF's! Got home and hooked up the rear drive shaft. Found out that the mounting bolts are different sizes from 72 to 77 so needed to drill out the holes a little but other than that it went in farely easily.

I then filled up the radiator and soon realised I hadnt plugged one of the heater outlets.. DOH! water everywhere!!

This is the first time in over 5 years this patrol has moved under its own power.. as you can hear there is no exhaust just extractors so she's a little loud and very rough.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf-J7zNij8c[/youtube]

Well its been a hell of a long time since I have done anything to the 60. I dont have a whole lot to do before rego but its all the little jobs that take 3 times longer than the others that is the pain. I just need to put my head down and start getting stuck into it.

So tonight I pulled out one of my seats for Mundy and decided to strip down the seats for the '72 and have a go at re-covering them myself... cant be that hard right? :crazy:

The vinyl was very crispy on the passenger seat and there was definatly some rust showing on the frame but when I got down to it I soon realised this was going to be a BIG job.









Covers off, old school straw stuff covered in canvas, foam and wooly stuff.





And the frame. I'll get some new tube and replace the top hoop. I'll also need to replace the back rest springs and some of the eyelets that hold the spring to the frame. The bum springs are still fairly good.









So thats it for tonight, tomorrow night ill have a crack at the drivers seat. It was in worse shape from memory so who knows what i'll find.

As well as working on the tierods end I ripped in to my drivers seat... unfortunatly it's in WAAAAAAAAAAY worse shape than I thought! I might have a go at re-making a frame myself if I can find tube the same size.

Stuffed:



I figure I'll make up a jig and as long as i can find some springs I dont think it will be that hard to make. Striped to bare bones it will sit in the too hard basket for now. :problem:


I also got some really cheap 255/85r16's today. I sold my swampers last year so these will do for now. I also scored 5 GU steelies for $59 on ebay

[miller]

Had the arvo off today so decided to do a little of the 60. Actually ive worked on it every night this week which is a first for a long long time!

Made the glovebox lockable..





Because im running later model transfer I was able to add the 4wd engaged light also..



New stainless screws in the vents. The goal is to replace all the fixings that are exposed to stainless



And then finally i welded the rear tailgate skin to the frame. Originally i had screwed it on but thought this looked a little slap dash so welding will give a cleaner look..



Got a few more small items done today. Spent most of the day cleaning up the shed though.

1. Hooked up linkages for transfer case.
2. Painted and installed cover and boots. I split the gear boot while trying to get it on. It was a major PITA!
3. Tightened rear driveshaft bolts.
4. Installed oil bath filter. Probably run paper filters in it though.

I also came across some canvas seat covers for an FJ40 last night. I wonder if the will fit? They look to be a similar size.

Anyway pics or it never happened right?

[miller]

Had a productive afternoon today. Dropped my seat frames off to the sandblaster to get cleaned up then headed home to start installing my fox shox that have been sitting in the box for months! When i got home I realised I didnt have my high lift jack so figured the shocks can wait. I pottered around for a while before I had a brain wave to fab up the missing parts to my soft top frame.

I only have the parts above the doors and the rear hoop. I had bought the steel for this job a few weeks ago so all i needed to do was shoot over to a mates place to bend up the middle hoop. That was a bit of a challenge but it turned out ok.
I then made up the tabs and started measuring for the supports.

I need to clean up all the pieces, everything is just tacked in for now as i wasnt sure how it would come together. As it is it needs a tweak here and there but the hard work is done. I needed to put the ratty soft top on that i have. Its not original but its made to the same specs. It seems to have shrunk a fair bit cos i cant get it to fit properly. The rear hoop it verticle and square yet the canvas wants to pull it in 2". :crazy:

So heres the pics.. My good camera is at work so sorry for the crappy pics. Ill take more detailed shots when the light is better.. Im kinda diggin the ratty canvas with the drab paint

Its not perfect yet but for a few hours work it aint bad i dont think!











Re-built my tierod ends and put the front end back together today. Installed the RTC dampner as well. Also fitted the 255/85's but too wet for any out door shots so you'll have to wait.

[miller]

Finally dragged out a couple of boxes ive been meaning to get to for a while..



and installed my Fox Shox. Went in no problems, they look a bit odd against the cruddy chassis but i can always go back and make it pretty later. I want this thing on the road!





Nolathane part numbers...