Zook Rebuild/Rethink

Post by **bigsteve** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 7:13 am

Hi all,

Some factors of late being broken shocks, shagged springs & the odd fall over or 2 have made me decide to do a bit of a rebuild and suspension rethink on the siera.

There will be plenty of pics through out as my camera is no more than 10 feet from the car at all times.

The plan is to replace my damaged tin top body with another tin top body chopped down into a ute with appropriate barwork protecting it from further damage. I also plan to offset my rims and switch the suspension back to SPUA (The front will be OME rears the rear is TBA) hopefully drop the lift by at least 3 inches and widen the track width 2 inches.

Steve

Post by **bigsteve** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 7:18 am

Day 1 Wednesday,

Stripped out the interior, seats, false floor e.t.c.
Removed F & R Bars
Also removed the doors bonnet and rear door

Post by ***BESTY*** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 7:22 am

Not meaning to be rude....BUT....Why don't you just learn how to drive it ??

You now know what it takes for it to fall over so why don't you change your line at which you attack obstacles ??

You already have a very capable vehicle....those pics of your 'flops' don't really show very aggressive terrain....I drove Justice the other day....no probs....drove up Cemetary and Justice a few weeks ago.....no probs and I'm SPOA !!

Post by **bigsteve** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 7:27 am

Day 2 Thursday

Unbolted front clip, removed all body bolts, disconnected front electricals & other clip mounted things from loom e.t.c.

Removed rear glass

Front Clip is off, body is able to be rocked on chassis

Post by **bigsteve** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 7:29 am

Ferozius wrote:Not meaning to be rude....BUT....Why don't you just learn how to drive it ??

You now know what it takes for it to fall over so why don't you change your line at which you attack obstacles ??

You already have a very capable vehicle....those pics of your 'flops' don't really show very aggressive terrain....I drove Justice the other day....no probs....drove up Cemetary and Justice a few weeks ago.....no probs and I'm SPOA !!

Its a gauntlet thing!!! - Greg Knows what I mean.

Post by **bigsteve** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 7:32 am

Day 3 Friday

Removed loom from engine, speedo, clutch & hand brake cables disconnected, body is now off, chassis rolled into Garaga to be cleaned.

Plans for weekend and next week include picking up the replacement body, cleaning up the chassis, chopping and fitting the replacement body.

Post by **WaveCult** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 9:09 am

bigsteve wrote:Day 1 Wednesday,

Stripped out the interior, seats, false floor e.t.c.
Removed F & R Bars
Also removed the doors bonnet and rear door

Oh my, such small wheels you have

Post by **bigsteve** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 5:48 pm

Day 4 Saturday

Removed the shocks and fuel tank, sat back and assesed what needs doing e.g. Uni's and what will need cutting smoothin/ cleaning e.t.c.

Old body is now in my front yard where I will rob parts as I need them.

Post by **redzook** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 6:19 pm

keep it soa
get a track bar
get rid of them extended shackles
fit the 34's an get your rims offset
and do some choppin

Done

Post by **SAWZALL** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 4:00 am

Put a coil suspension in it. At least in the rear, no more twisted spring packs, heaps of travel and rides like a car...

Post by ***BESTY*** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 2:29 pm

DAY 5

Picked up hard top body.....loaded onto 6x4 trailer and drove home with sh_t falling out of the doors !!!
:finger:

Post by **moose** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 4:18 pm

ummm , wat doors ???
you mean the openings where the doors used to be !!!!!

Post by **antt** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 5:33 pm

gotta love heaps of pics

Post by **bigsteve** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 5:42 pm

Besty/ Moose

Thanks for the help and the replacement body,

Struck a small problem, Moose's tin top had damage to the rear and a slight kink at the top of the drivers B pillar, this was easily straigtened exept the turret has also kinked a notch forwards so doors will never liine up.

Back to body shopping.

Thanks again guys.

Post by **moose** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 5:46 pm

the doors used to fit it good !!!
& when I put them on mine (B4 roll) they fitted the same !!!

(just use your 1/2 doors !!!!)
(no gaps to bother ya !!!)

Post by **bigsteve** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 5:57 pm

moose wrote:
(just use your 1/2 doors !!!!)
(no gaps to bother ya !!!)

That would be Ok but I screwed a half door when I tipped it so I'll be aiming to run full doors on road and probably no doors offroad.

Post by **greg** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 9:37 am

bigsteve wrote:
Ferozius wrote:Not meaning to be rude....BUT....Why don't you just learn how to drive it ??

You now know what it takes for it to fall over so why don't you change your line at which you attack obstacles ??

You already have a very capable vehicle....those pics of your 'flops' don't really show very aggressive terrain....I drove Justice the other day....no probs....drove up Cemetary and Justice a few weeks ago.....no probs and I'm SPOA !!

Its a gauntlet thing!!! - Greg Knows what I mean.

I think what big steve is trying to achieve with his rebuild is the ability to drive the stupid lines with a car that doesn't want to have a kip on its side every time you tilt it over more than X degrees.

i.e. a completely stock sierra can drive cemetary track, but fewer cars are able to drive the hard lines up it - this is where the fun is :cool:

You're right Andrew, learning to drive the car is definately a good move, but once you have mastered driving it (and i believe Big Steve is as good a driver in his car as i am in mine), you have also have realised all its capabilities - but also its inabilities - and this is where i think Big Steve is at now.

Seeing a few other cars in the club make easy work of some very ugly track was enough to make me want to build up my car, and i think Big Steve has caught the same bug.

Post by **bigsteve** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 1:45 pm

Day 6 Monday

Removed the rear springs, to asses wht needs doing to the spring mounts/plates e.t.c. in prep for going back leaf under.

Looks like I will just have to re drill the original hole in the spring plate (Filled in when the spring over was done) replace the drag link and probably the pitman arm to convert it back.

Organised Mig and tube bender for later work, wasted the majority of the day on internet.

Post by **greg** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 1:47 pm

bigsteve wrote:Looks like I will just have to re drill the original hole in the spring plate (Filled in when the spring over was done) replace the drag link and probably the pitman arm to convert it back.

Do these differ from w/t to n/t, if not, i'm sure you will be able to find a stack of NT ones about. :cool:

Post by **bigsteve** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 1:51 pm

greg wrote:
bigsteve wrote:Looks like I will just have to re drill the original hole in the spring plate (Filled in when the spring over was done) replace the drag link and probably the pitman arm to convert it back.

Do these differ from w/t to n/t, if not, i'm sure you will be able to find a stack of NT ones about.

I reckon the drag link would be different but I know somebody planning a SPOA so we may just see what does/doesn't fit & do a bit of a swap over.

Post by **greg** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 9:41 am

Any Progress?

Is this thing finished yet Big Steve?

Post by **bigsteve** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 12:14 pm

Yes it is, in fact its sitting in my driveway ATM wearing your swampers.

I Wish,

Work Done today, did some tweaking of the body and managed to get the doors on, passenger side is straight & flush, drivers should be Ok when I get onto the B pillar with the port-a-power, its currently about 5mm out.

Stripped out the interior, carpet, dodgy wood shelf system, also started cleaning metal work for some paint.

I also got stuck into the hinge mounts, removed the surface rust, later today I'll get stuck into the WT sill mounts (Rust traps) to prep them for some plate & paint.

Post by **greg** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 12:56 pm

Nice work dude... 'spose it would be nice to have it back "driving" for when you return to work eh? even without any whizbang barwork or suspension mods completed...

I did some mods to my car on the weekend - got some black tape and repaired the flares

Post by **greg** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 2:22 pm

Hey Big Steve,

Check this out:

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... php?t=9712

I'm sure it would boost the "extreme" rating of your new build up :cool:

Post by **bigsteve** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 11:36 pm

greg wrote:Hey Big Steve,

Check this out:

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... php?t=9712

I'm sure it would boost the "extreme" rating of your new build up

But I allready have my tyres :finger:

Post by **bigsteve** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 8:45 am

Things done yesterday:
~ Doors are both on and line up now.
~ Sills are stripped and ready for paint
~ Stripped out all the underlay (Glued to the floor)
~ Un picked the weld across the rear floor for the chop

Things to do today:
~ Attack my engine and chassis with degreaser
~ Disconnect the donor body from its chassis

Post by **greg** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 9:17 am

bigsteve wrote:~ Un picked the weld across the rear floor for the chop

Big Steve,

Did you check out how far back your seats sit? I reckon they may need to lay back a fair bit for you to have any room in the cabin...

As in - have you left enough room in there?

Post by **greg** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 9:43 am

bigsteve wrote:But I allready have my tyres

I presume you are joking.

Those tyres are way too small for your new build

Post by **bigsteve** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 11:41 am

greg wrote:
bigsteve wrote:~ Un picked the weld across the rear floor for the chop

Big Steve,

Did you check out how far back your seats sit? I reckon they may need to lay back a fair bit for you to have any room in the cabin...

As in - have you left enough room in there?

It should be OK, I am going to fit fixed back seats, which will sit just inside the B pillar. With my steering wheel extended I have plenty of room.

Post by **greg** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 2:38 pm

bigsteve wrote:It should be OK, I am going to fit fixed back seats, which will sit just inside the B pillar. With my steering wheel extended I have plenty of room.

Oh well - i guess if you stuff it up you can always drive it around with no doors on like you had to do in mine

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