looking good matt , screw what jew boi has to say
now to get it up nice n shiney

The Mav got a few pennies flung its general direction this week.


New upper rear control arm.
Mavs and Patrol running an extra petrol belly tank run into issues with the upper arm bashing into the fuel tank on full suspension droop.
Throw a suspension setup that works well like mine into the mix and it makes the situation a whole lot worse.
The idea of the bent arm is purely to give the tank enough clearance to be able to full cycle the suspension off road.
With the camping trip to Yalwal only a week away it had to be done so I dont break anything having a play.

What will next week bring? Will it possibly be new wheels on the Ghia and a set of new rear springs in the ute...............................................................................

This morning saw the start to a busy and expensive day.
First job was putting another set of shoes on the Ghia.
Got a set of genuine 18" BA XR8 option wheels during the week so off to the tyre service for tyres to be swapped around and them fitted up.Unfortunatley the minister took off with her car to go to work before I got a chance to take any pictures of it with the new wheels................
Then it was down to Liverpool Springs to pick up my reset set of original ute springs. I wasnt happy with the springs I had in it as when I got up it real hard on take off the ute would axle tramp. So with my style of driving axle tramp would be somewhat a constant thing if I didnt change them over.
Original springs have been reset 2" lower and they are great now. No tramp its either get up and go or smoke show.
Sits basically the same height as before so no point in any pictures.

While away down at Yalwal for the weekend we had a bit of fun



Unfortunately whilst having fun in a boghole that crossed the track and there was no option to avoid it we managed to find something in the soup that made the following picture possible

So while at the tyre service an order was put in for 4 new tyres. They know I am a jew down there so they have done me a very sweet deal and the remaining 3 good tyres on the Mav will be swapped across to the camper trailer as the tyres on it are getting a bit long in the tooth. All going well the new rubber will be fitted tomorrow after work.
The winch from Super Crap I picked up at a half price sale was fired in anger on the weekend. I have to say it did itself proud pulling a newish Pajero up a fairly sizeable rockstep very easily.

It was a damn big rockstep actually. It took the Mav a few attempts to climb it and unfortunately as I popped over the top of it I got a little too close to a tree.

The bar work did its job!
I also managed to break an engine mount at around 6000 RPM so I need to order a couple of new ones this week. They have copped 5 years of abuse so I reckon its time for them to have a break anyway!

New shoes and actually has been given a bath!

Looking good. How do the big horn's compare against the old buckshot's?

what size are they ?

I believe they are still 33x12.5

Too big for a 3Y powered anything to turn

I'll pay that lol

Yep they are just another set of 33x12.5x15.
I was going to step up to 315/75 16 but decided that at this point in time I just couldnt be a*** stuffing around getting it engineered and legal for them.
Also I remembered how it used to steer like a drunk shopping trolley on the old 35" claws and just how tiring it was to drive at freeway speeds.
Just cant be stuffed putting up with that now days.
I have a small penis and accept it. I not going to bother compensating for it with massive tyres any more.
As far as how they are compared to the old buckshots , well at this point in time I dont know.
I have only done about 50km on them around suburbia. The nipples havent even worn off them yet.
They do seem to be noisier but.

Spent a few hours on the new body yesterday.
Its starting to look a bit more like it should.


Then today in my travels I slipped past the skunk works of Dazfab.
Bastard has given me some evil ideas.
So the build will now take longer but finish up that much cooler.

A gun fabricator tends to have that effect.

Had a bit more of a fiddle this afternoon and did the first of what will be many trims , tweaks and test fits.
Didnt get a chance to get more detailed pics but will get some when I have it pulled back apart if anyone is interested.
Its still a long way away from being anywhere near finished but at least you can see roughly where it is heading.




As you can see I have trimmed down the original roof cut to a rough size and am playing around mocking it up to get something that works and looks half decent.
Im hoping I have enough of the cut left that I removed to use it to fill in the lower wall seeing as though it has factory strengthening ribs pressed into it. It will look much better then flat sheet.
Im not a massive fan of the thick C pillar that is starting to form but if I keep it , I will be able to build a small parcel shelf behind the seats so the rear window isnt right on passengers heads and it should be able to take a pair of 4" spreakers so people in the bar can hear something other then the sub. I might even be able to squeeze in a set of 5x7s. None of this will interfere with the cargo area at all.

looks alright mate, are you going the full fill panel or giving it a little window??