Gallagags Trolley tug build

[gwagensteve]

Tried to get a big day in today to put it back together. Didn't quite go to plan but it's a lot more together now.

The Dash was installed, which meant sorting the loom into its final position and tidying up some loose ends. (literally)
The diagnostic link switch was fitted to the dash.
Various bits and pieces were painted black to hide the white and blend into the dash
Disconnect lever was installed
Seats have gone in along with seat belts.
Compliance plate re installed. (Suzuki crack me up - the compliance plate lists says it's a DA21 Super Carry and can seat 4.) we had to move it because of the engine loom.
Steering shaft was properly installed.

The front clip was pressure washed and loosely reinstalled to sort the airfilter.... and that's where things got a little complex. None of the stuff we have looks like it will work properly. I think I can make a 1.0 air filter to work (these are actually nicely designed and have both a nice centrifugal design and a much larger filter area than the jimny/baleno style, but need the inlet opened up to 3" to suit the Donaldson Top-spin prefilter Michael wants to run.

Michael also wanted to run a 1.0 front clip. Let's just say we won't get that on before AT08... turns out we cut and welded the bottom of the 1.3 grille bottom panel under the headlights and swapping to the 1.0 clip will be a big job... best left for after AT08

Steve.

[gwagensteve]

A small update, photos will be up after the weekend, but this is how the "to do" list sits now.

The air filter is done. We have used a 1.0 airbox which has a nice canister filter in it rather than the panel used in baleno/jimny airboxes. The airbox has been fitted about where the battery sits in a stock sierra. The inlet to the airbox is now 3" stainless pipe breathing straight through the bonnet. There's an 8" Donaldson Top-Spin precleaner on top of that. the top spin sits about 2.5" above the bonnet so "wash" from deep water won't swamp the airbox.

Battery hold down is done.

We ran out of paint so final assembly won't be until the weekend, the clip isn't painted and the doors etc need another coat. The cover over the shock mounts/battery still remains to be done, HD airlocker line is to be intalled, but that's about it.

The car has had a very short road test and drives and shifts very well.

[gwagensteve]

Final update pre AT08, and for this round of modifications.

It's together, road tested, checked, and absolutely fantastic to drive.

First of all, a massive armsup for everyone that's had a hand in this build. Mitch, Cj and Greg have all had a hand in getting this car to where it is now in the last phase, and Michael and I both thank you guys heaps for your efforts.

This weekend pretty much just saw final assembly, which has really just time consuming.

All panels were painted. Carbon canister was mounted, fuel accumulator was mounted, Heavy duty Air locker line fitted, the ammo boxes were fitted to the rear rack, the cover over the battery completed, lights rewired, brakes bled ( more of that in a minute) 1/2 doors fitted and painted, auto trans refilled (more of that too in a minute) idle speed adjusted and a few other little things done.

Michael and Mitch road tested the car for about 25 km of 80-100km/h driving and on return the car showed a couple of problems. Despite bleeding the brakes twice, we still had rubbish pedal, and the idle speed was very high occasionally surged. We adjusted the cable and the idle is now spot on, and that seemed to clear the surging. I think it was an IAC (Idle Air Control) problem as the computer saw no load but high revs and couldn't bring them down.

Michael checked the trans fluid and it was low (like really low... off the stick) so we "found" some Dexron III fluid, or so we thought in the shed, to top it up. anyway, we dumped about 300ml of unknown, black, petrolly/gear oily gunk into the auto before we realised it wasn't Dexron III - AAAARRGGGHHHH! My fault for not labelling the bottle as scrap oil. Mitch dropped the pan and Michael headed off to town to find some more fluid. All good after that.

To the brakes- so we had a garbage pedal. soft, and it didn't really pump up either, and the car pulled too. The lines had been bled to death (including the cylinder), front pads were fine, handbrake was set up and working, it sort of seemed like the cylinder was dodgy.

We had all the wheels off for paint so started having a look at the rear brakes. passenger side seemed fine- a tiny bit of brake drag when turning freely, but the drivers side seemed really loose. Turns out both the pads were low and the drum was worn - so the adjuster was at the limit of its travel. swapped in some "fresher" pads and pretty good drum and the pedal is now quite good.

So how does it drive?

It's got plenty of power and torque. It's now almost "quick" - certainly plenty quick enough for a car with an 80" wheelbase and nearly 36" tyres. Yes, you can feel the auto sapping some power, but you an feel it multiplying the torque too - the midrange and light throttle acceleration is massively impressive. As predicted, it runs around 3900rpm - at around 95 km/h, which really doesn't feel high or buzzy for this car as the exhaust is quiet and the engine redlines at 6500rpm rev limits at 6750, which it hits easily.

Temperature sits at about 1/3 up the gauge on cruise.

The auto kicks down properly, holds gears, and doesn't slur or slip - a good sign.

There's no question that it's not the easiest swap physically ( due to tunnel and water pipe) but as it looks ow, it's made this car beautifully, effortlessly drivable, on road and off. I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do on the tour.

Here's the finished photos -

[gwagensteve]

And some more.

Unfinished business - we set realistic goals as we went along. Michael ultimately wants to run power steer (and has the box) and on board air, but we decided not to pursue these now as we were going to run out of time. The speedo face is massively optimistic. I'll swap it with mine to correct it - it was quite close before but now shows about 125km/h for 100km/h of GPS road speed.