Project I-Zook

[ingthorsson]

At last I´ve bought my own Zook!
A 413W ´86, bone stock, with a soft-top going all the way back.
I paid what equals 1.340 Aussie bucks for it: 8.000.- Swedish kronas.

I´m going to sell the soft-top (it´s almost new) and make this into a pure pick-up, or utility as you Aussies say.

Now I can stop being a know-it-all about other peoples rigs and get on the receiving end of comments and criticism. And I welcome that.

I´ve made a deal with my local wrecker for a Volvo 2.3 engine with mechanical fuel injection, around 130 hp, a four speed auto and the accesories needed; radiator, shifter with linkage etc.

I plan to use the stock transfer case, for starters at least, see how it goes.
I already have a pair of axles from an LJ70 ´Cruiser that I´ll install along with the LC power steering gear and driveshafts, lengthened or shortened as needed. The rear axle has an LSD but lockers are on the wanted list.
Somewhere I have a big AC pump that will serve as an air-compressor.
I haven´t decided yet whether I´ll keep leaves between frame and axles or to go all the way and coil it. If I stick with leaves, theyll be longer and softer than stock. Shocks......? Koni´s if I can afford them.
I´ll be using 35" mud-radials, of which I already have two different pairs, rather worn, but suitable to build around. New ones by and by.

Those are the main modification plans, nothing drastic as you can see.

Pics will be posted!

Now frag it!

Ingthorsson

[munga]

sounds like a great build. keep the photos happening!

(create a members thread when you get started)

[ingthorsson]

I´m sorry to sound foolish; but how, and why, do I crate a "members thread"?

And about the I-Zook; I´ll go SPOA, for me that´s so obvious I didn´t even mention it. (Kinda obvious also with 35s planned).

Ingthorsson.

[sierrajim]

I´m sorry to sound foolish; but how, and why, do I crate a "members thread"?

And about the I-Zook; I´ll go SPOA, for me that´s so obvious I didn´t even mention it. (Kinda obvious also with 35s planned).

Ingthorsson.

You'll find the members section here http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... m.php?f=16

\The tech sections are obviously for tech, if you want to keep a thread going in here while you build the car, feel free to do so. Once its built send me a PM and i'll move it to the Members section.

Just try to keep your posts tech related and perhaps try to explain to others why you're building the car in a particular way as you go along.

PS you can run 36's with SPUA and a little trimming.

[Santos]

*sigh* Europe has that many diesel engines to pick from and you are thinking a volvo... i suppose you are Swedish

[droopypete]

I already have a pair of axles from an LJ70 ´Cruiser

I haven´t decided yet whether I´ll keep leaves between frame and axles or to go all the way and coil it.




Ingthorsson

LJ70 cruiser diffs are coil sprung allready, all the hard work has been done for you
Peter.

[ingthorsson]

Santos, please don´t you ever call me swedish again, I might get very offended; I only happen to live in Sweden.
I´m pure icelandic! Hence the "I"-Zook. (It is of course also the initial of my name, and if you think in Roman numbers..............)

And about the engine; For a light car like a Zook I´m not too keen on diesels, and here in Sweden the Volvos are available in abundance.
The Volvo is also a very good engine for a four wheeler; good power and gobs of torque, they are available in turbo versions with up to 220 hp and they are strong and very reliable. And you can get any hop up part you can think of for it! So, here it´s a natural choice.

OK, my LC axles are coil sprung already, but I don´t like the rest of the suspension setup that comes with them.
Going to coils would also move me up a class in the trials competitions here.

Ingthorsson.

[ingthorsson]

Hi there guys ´n´ dolls.
It´s been awhile since I´ve been on the thread: I was working 12 - 14 hours a day before Christmas but now things have been happening!
Maybe I should have made a new thread titled "Goodbye softtop, hello Plus-Cab" ´cause that´s just what´s happened as seen in the pics.
I was able to wheedle out the help of an oldtimer in the sheet metal trade when doing what machine work was needed, but otherwise I take full personal responsibility for this transformation.
Or destruction, or whatever anyone wants to call it.
The job took about 20 hours, spread over a week, to complete in it´s raw form. Later on I´ll put in some kind of insulation and do other finishing touches.
More to come.

[ingthorsson]

Now why on earth does the forum Do this?! Show the pics in opposite order when prewiewing as compared to how they come out when submitted?
But okay, now I know!
To continue, here are more pics, in correct order this time, I hope!
Everything got fastened together with short bodyscrews and a few self-drilling screws (I ran out of the short ones) and roofing type glue/sealer in all joints. I used the existing M5 tapped holes to fasten the side panels to the factory "roll bar" and on top of the windshield I fit the front edge of the roof underneath the hood bumps and the small bar in the center.
Thanks to the sealer, I guess, and ingenious design the cab doesn´t rattle or squeak at all.
This is all I can do for the time being; come March I´ll take it on the ferry to Iceland and start on the fun stuff!

ingthorsson.

[markil]

Great work there ingthorsson Looks very neat and seems like a must have in the cold weather over there

Mark.

[ingthorsson]

Thanks Mark.
Yes, a softtop isn´t the "hottest" thing to have up here where it gets down to +25 degrees centigrade BELOW zero in the winter, specially with an ineffective heater as in the zook. I really hope the ingoing Volvo engine will run a bit hotter than the little zook spinner.

ingthorsson.

[Zute]

Wow looks really great. Mines an Indian built Maruti, all fibre glass. But I like the extra, extra cab of yours as well.

[Pinball]

Looking good,

and good thread style with the info...

i take it the mod laws over there are fairly flexible, r is the finished product not going to be registered?

Spock

[ingthorsson]

Thanks for the positive input guys.
I will be taking the I-Zook to Iceland for the buildup and give it the "Icelandic Treatment"!
As most of you, who have seen icelandic trucks on the web would know, the rules there are quite flexible; very strict on safety but othervise fair.
The plan is to get the I-Zook "sort of registered" there, at least checked out by an icelandic engineer. If I get a paper that says it´s street legal in Iceland I think it will be that much easier to get it registered here in Sweden. Not easy though: the extra weight of the Volvo engine is too much for the stock front axle, I´m counting on the stonger Toyota axle to get me over that hurdle.

Because you´ve been so positive I´ll let you see how the I-Zook will look when finished, at least in my mind:

ingthorsson

[ingthorsson]

Cheers mates! (Its saturday night up here!).
Things are happening at last!
I got my Zook up here to Iceland during the week, loaded far beyond legal capacity with the Volvo engine, transmission, radiator with built-in transmission cooler plus an extra trans cooler which was for heavy duty towing with the Volvos, 80 Amp alternator, power stearing pump, AC pump, shifter with console, fuel pump and filter, a twin-pump washer fluid tank (Opel Omega) and all the brackets and hoses and stuff to get it all together, I hope!
All this was heaped onto the shortened bed of the lwb and the inside of the Zook was pretty loaded too.
And boy did the customs officer have a field day!
Over an hour it took them to accept the fact that I wasn´t smuggling anything or carrying anything that wasn´t duty free.

Anyways..... this is supposed to be tech; not travel stories, so lets get tech!

I got the rear axle ready for installation tonight so now I must go spring- hunting.
For the rear at least, I plan to use springs from the russian GAZ 4x4. Very nice, soft springs with big eyes and soft bushings and the spring blades are even tapered on the lower edges, reminding one of knive blades, to ease flex. Same kind of springs up front or my old rears? It depends on the length of the russkies, their price and so on.
I´ll definitely be cutting up some strips of poly-urethane sheets that I´ve got, to go between the spring blades to smoothen out the ride even more.


Another plan that I´ve got in this sick mind of mine is to install an extra t-case. (Somebody suggested that I just used a t-case from a Vitara to get a lower low and that started the wheels turning in my head: Why not both?).
The long and the short of it is that I´ve gotten hold of a t-case from a Bronco ll which has a High of 1:1 and a Low of 2.48:1! Combine that with the ratios of the Zook t-case and you´ll get some purty impressive numbers: 1.409:1, 2.268:1, 3.494:1 and 5.624:1 will be the ratios I can choose between.
Oh I´ll crawl all right.

To be continued.....

[ingthorsson]

Ok.
Now I´ve got the front axle ready for installation as well, apart from the brake lines and hoses.
I ended up swapping my LJ70 axle housing for a Hilux one, but I´m keeping the high-pinion diff centre and the behind-the-axle tie rod. In the bargain I got an LSD for the front and a spare 4.56 ring and pinion for the rear. The Hilux axle is also practically ready for use as it is, spring pads in place as far inwards as possible and it needed only a bracket for the steering stabilizer which incidentally is a big Rancho I was able to "salvage".
A steering arm for crossover steering is in the works.
The spring pads may be at a totally wrong angle for use with the shacles at the front as opposed to the rear as in the Hilux, We´ll see.
I discovered that the left side spring pad on the Hilux axle was 10 mm lower than the other??? I just welded on a piece of flat steel bar.

I laid out some feelers to find a GAZ to get springs from and after a few days I got a complete vehicle for free
I haven´t even seen it yet, but although some of the body is missing and the rest probably rusty as hell, it´s supposed to be in running form, with a Mercedes diesel swapped into it!
So my springs will definitely be of russian origin.

Here is a website that shows the GAZ, for anyone who´s interested:
http://digilander.libero.it/cuoccimix/Gaz69fr.jpg

Before leaving Iceland for my Easter holidays here in Sweden I also started work on the rear bumper/trailer hitch which I make from a 3" od.
stainless steel pipe and 10 mm stainless steel plate.
It will be rather bling if I polish it but it was just material I had lying around. I even have stainless steel pipes for the front bar and the rollbar.

I´ll post pictures when I get back to Iceland after the holidays.

[PJ.zook]

Man if this rig turns out anything like what you Icelanders usually turn out, it should kick some ass.
You must have a hell of a time with rust over there too with all the snow.

[ingthorsson]

Thanks. I don´t know about kicking ass, but if everything that´s whirling around in my head gets done to the Zook, it should perform quite well.

I think I was very lucky when I found this particular Zook: No deep rust anywhere except in the floor of the bed; that is badly rusted. Lots of surface spots though that must be stopped.

The snow is only an indirect cause of rust, all the salt that is spread on the streets is the biggest cause, and the fact that, despite it´s location, Iceland has relatively mild winters, with the temperature very often rocking between frost and thaw, and THAT causes rust.
The salty sea-air is also a factor.
Here in Sweden, cars that come from up above the Arctic circle, where there is constant frost nearly all through the winter, are sought after because they are generally less rusted than others. They spread less salt there too, it´s not so effective once you get below -5 or so centigrade.

[ingthorsson]

I got a nice surprice when I started mating together the Volvo auto-tranny and the Bronco ll t-case: Both happen to be manufactured by AISIN and the transmission output shaft fits the t-case input sleeve!


That makes the whole combo much shorter and the adapter will be ready for final machining when I get back to Iceland.
The Bronco t-case will be shifted with an compressed air-cylinder, activated with a dash mounted button and an electro-magnetic valve.

I went and fetched the GAZ awhile back, it´s such a lovely vehicle.

I hope my workload will decrease a little in the coming weeks so I can get a bit more done than during my last stop in Iceland; there simply isn´t time when I work over 12 hours every day of the week.