Clifford the adventure 80 Series

[Adventure 80]

So figured I'd start a build for the old guy since im planning big things
New to the 4wd Actioin forum scene so go easy
Its a 97 HZJ80, so has the 1hz engine in him, sitting on about 328,000 kms at the moment but running clean and well for its age and for how much use its getting. We are local to the Ringwood area so more often than not we head up to Bunyip for a play every few weekends to give it a run but that's basically all it gets as its my car but still only on my Learners.

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He's sat like this for as long as I can remember but as soon as it was agreed that he would become mine an outback roof console and GME uhf went in prior to our first trip to see what else we wanted to add first

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Following this trip as you can see both chassis clearance and diff clearance were an issue so about a week after that trip and a lot of phone calls a 2 inch medium constant load Dobinsons kit went in
at first this seemed small to me but as I haven't even got my full license yet I didn't see any need to draw the cops attention and deal with engineers although this mindset has quickly been forgotten
I plan to study down in Tassie after a gap year in 2016 anyway so I imagine it'll get a pretty full on Tassie upgrade after a years wages enter my pocket before heading down

So now Clifford has essentially come to a stand still following the lift as the tracks have closed and I don't have much time to work on him while finishing year 12 studies and also rebuilding and converting a boat as well, so he sits like this with the lift at the moment with new 33' muddies hopefully coming before the tracks reopen conveniently 2 days after my exams finish

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to give some perspective my dad standing in the open door is about 6'2 so he's sitting higher than I thought, still think the Tassie treatment will see bigger tyres, bigger lift, better bar work all round and much more..... for now ive bought new bucket seats to go in, just have to find the time to put them in!!
Stay tuned!

[StickyD]

Nice build dude,

finding the budget and time is pretty hard as a youngin'. So i cant imagine how it is for these older guys but looks good so far

keep us updated

[Adventure 80]

yes will do mate, will try to keep the build updated especially in the coming holidays, summer period and all of next year with little and major things!
Been mucking around with the new seats this afternoon and tonight from SAAS

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Got them from Supercheap Auto down in Bayswater, the boys down there are great to deal with and got me these last two models that they could find in any stores
After pulling out seats, a lot of careful measuring and a few phone calls to a local engineer who was very helpful it seems the easiest way to install bucket seats(that is legal) such as these that have no universal mounting brackets it to obtain 5mm or greater plate alloy or such to fit to the bottom of the seat and then to the original rails
I've researched this extensively over the past few weeks and no one has really outlined it much from what I have found but after talking with the engineer the welding and making of new brackets and rails is quite hard to get approved as is large amounts of welding in general. The ability to keep standard fittings for everything, as well as the seat bolts makes the process of approval a lot easier as all of these parts are compliant with the car.
Anyway after about an hour of mucking around and measuring I realised I needed a few bits of bigger sheet

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so that job has been postponed till atleast the weekend when I can get new sheet but another issue also came up

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the plate on the side of this rail with multiple holes was a structural part of the original seat and looks as if it is welded or something onto the rail itself which fouls on the new seat, im tempted to cut it off but will talk to mr engineer tomorrow anyway as the seatbelt attachment must stay on.
another issue is that the passenger side was a bench seat.... therefore the rails don't have the seatbelt attachment .... which means a trip down to a wreckers is also in order sometime which probably means these wont be in till during the holidays unless I can manage to fab something up and get the engineer to approve it
but enough ramble for one night, lost track of time and still have to start studying for this exam that's on tomorrow

[Aaron Schubert]

Nice vehicle mate. Got to love the 80's!

Aaron

[Adventure 80]

Yeah mate do love the 80! certainly some modifications I feel should be made to Clifford as he is my truck and I have some nitty grittys that I love or hate to have
While doing on road driving and such the main thing I notice is the underpowered and sluggish feel of the truck in general but that certainly wont be addressed until the motor gives way and I replace that, preferably not for many years so im off my p's by then. and regarding the sluggish feel....well it seems some cutting would be the best looking way to fix the issue, maybe an extra/space cab job would be on the tables but again not until funds and time give me the oppurtunity

So the seats are the current job at the moment, as well as the boat im rebuilding and moving house and completing year 12...etc etc
Spent about 2-3 hours on a wild goose chase around Bayswater and Ringwood from pick-a-part to super cheap to Bunnings to metfab to toyospares and on and on
So basically I rang every wrecker parts dealer etc regarding picking up some 80 series seat rails for the passenger side. many companies were very helpful and offered other businesses that would look after me but no one seemed to have the part, one company even quoted $200 for them!!!
Eventually after a conversation with toyospares in Bayswater who quoted $160 for seat and rails I agreed as I could flog the seat as well as the ones in the car on fleabay
Now these guys are pretty helpful (and busy) and find any part but when I came in they gave me only the rails as they guy said the seat was f*cked, so fair enough, with a few little add ons such as the seat belt mount and such it came to $210 anyway but I paid and left as this guy had been running around for me for around 2 hours, cheers mate!
Now to another company, MetFab also in Bayswater, Bloody brilliant I say! 2 400x400x5mm mild heat rolled steel sheets were cut to perfection and very good with timing so appreciate that.
Only gunna get time to try and get all this in by tomorrow night so photos should be up by the end of the weekend with hopefully a youtube vid to follow the weekend after (editing to my personal preferences takes a bit )
Following that there might be a gap till early November due to exams and such but from then on tracks are open! and it will be full steam ahead...or atleast a lot of black smoke

[Adventure 80]

So the seats are finally in... from this

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to this...

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A lot of work was required for this surprisingly, 8 holes in each plate and added cuts to clear parts of each rail as below

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I was drilling each hole with a standard drill and using an angle grinder to do all cutting so if a drill press and plasma cutter was used the process would be able to be completed in a day without doubt
The only issue I have found is that on the passenger side the side of the chair which is now much wider than standard and rubs against the pillar... but only on the passenger side

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anyway I am very pleased with the outcome, its raised a modern look to the car
the seats are quite stiff and I feel like touring will be a bit uncomfortable but the car will mainly be used for day trips anyway

[Cheyne_r]

Nice truck mate! Wish I had an 80 back when I was on my L's!

[Adventure 80]

the seats also left me this big space for a fridge

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Might grab a fridge this weekend from work for that purpose and get that in soon so stay tuned for that
Otherwise the bonnet struts also went in yesterday, these were made for a 100 series but after measuring it up I found they would fit, and theyre cheaper than 80 ones anyway

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So other than the fridge upgrade im seeking some advice on winches, I haven't got a large budget and am looking for around a 12000lb one, been looking into the runva winches and the dominators but just looking for peoples personal experiences

On top of winch advice im searching for advice on tyres, right now im looking at 33's as I have a two inch lift but it seems 35s would also fit in??? I normally wheel around bunyip and gembrook as well as the occasional trip to Toolangi and Marysville and such.

[Adventure 80]

Cheers Cheyne_r!! Loving it so far,and believe me I know how lucky I am to have one now hahaha

[Adventure 80]

Ran out of mixing tubs for fibreglass resin today so boat rebuild has been put to a stop till i grab more tubs from Bunnings in my lunch break tomorrow, for those who are interested in that...its an old novacraft 17ft, converting it to a centre console, old pic so the cabin structure is entirely gone at the moment

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This meant I had time to work on Clifford
Cleaned the engine bay from the last trip we did a while ago after making a muddy mess bit of effort and sunburn but came out nice and shiny unfortunately didn't grab a pic
Next job was to replace filament light globes that came in the outback console(its a very old one) so 2 9LED lights went in the front two spots and 2 sixes in the back, didn't seem like much light(was midday ) so I grabbed some strip lighting from my box of randomly bought/leftover stuff and the product...

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Looks as if its a blue light but is just plain white, would've rather blue as it looks better and makes any car look mad
but light output is great, short task all in all just a bit of mucking around with wires and such but otherwise fairly straightforward
Just little jobs and updates, but using this to keep track and provide any help or information I can
PS seat conversion video should be coming soon

[Adventure 80]

My last day of holidays today so it seemed fitting without work to put some effort into Clifford
Picked up an old cargo barrier and put it in behind the rear seats...

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Don't particularly like the look but as soon as im on my p's a full length platform and draws will cover cargo area and rear seats for a bed on overnight trips so the barrier will be modified for behind the front seats
Pulled off a front and rear wheel to see what I can do in terms of brake upgrades, front calipers and rotors are most definitely already looking well used so they'll be replaced and not sure about the rear, needs a handbrake upgrade tho that's for sure.
Took off the snapped bonnet protector...

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will be replaced by a black one when bonnet is wrapped a satin black, black rims are put on and badges are dechromed to black out the car more of a personal thing as I know some people don't like the look of black and another colour but I love it
Predicting to look like this...

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Hopefully will look abit tougher with some 33 or 35 inch muddies as well
that's probably about it till mid November as now exams are here and that's when tracks reopen in Gembrook
PS if anyone wants the bench seat I took out and replaced(has a cover on it, is the buckskin vinyl standard) it will come wth all seatbelt attachments and rails etc PM me

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[Adventure 80]

Got this in the mail the other day

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Didn't last long before I got it all out and even started pulling it apart to figure out which wires I need to extend and add etc to move the control box under the bonnet and create in cab controls

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It came with the line spooled up but I decided to unspool it all coz it has to be spooled under load anyway, free spool works fairly well just pulling rope off it when standing on to of it so im pretty happy

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For these winch controls I grabbed some switches from super cheap during my lunch break. A simple on off toggle with missile switch cover and a on/off/on momentary switch as well that is labelled winch, now to just figure out how to wire the bloody thing up and make another video of this install as well
If anyone has a wiring diagram handy for a four pin winch to the type of switches i have feel free to chuck it in a reply! Cheers!

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Got an AM/FM aerial for the bumper in the mail as well, no photo but its from prestige communications, wont go in until I get the new head unit, sub, speakers, amp etc for the full stereo setup

[Adventure 80]

Finally got the video done and up on youtube.
Not my best work by far but I sure as hell wasn't going to video it all again so this is all there is. More how to vids coming soon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llhSFtvV8gw

[Adventure 80]

Finally finished school so flat out working 5 days a week(feel free to drop in anyone and have a chat)

Been working on both the boat rebuild/conversion as well as Clifford
Regarding Clifford a bit of money and time has been spent with the winch and tyres etc
Picked up 4 kumho m/ts for 450 off a bloke on one of the facebook forums, just 33s and a bit worn but an easy 9-10mm tread to muck around on, just need rims now

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Winch install took a while.

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didn't bother with a video for this one but essentially I decided against moving the solenoid pack under the bonnet for now as things are going to be added in there soon the actual box I realised needed to be completely reversed on its bracket to ensure the controller cable could be inserted and not foul against the bull bar

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all cables run behind grill and he looks pretty neat, apart from the number plate that needs to be moved

to those that have an arb bar majority(if not all) require an offset fairlead which ofcourse does not come with the winch, so another order to 4wdsupacentre for the offset one as they were cheap. it coincidentally arrived through toll right when I was just bolting the winch into the bar (thanks for giving me a hand postman to lift her in! Legend!) theyre bloody heavy on your own to get in that awkward space

anyway in cab controls also went in, bit of plastic work and it almost looks factory with the isolator switch and all

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ill put up a wiring diagram in the next post.

for now its waiting for the tyres to be put on rims, might install a dual battery system finally, and some led light bars from work.... but im happy with the way hes looking

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oh yeah did I mention I put that fm/am aerial on(the left one) in prep for the new sound system. works like a charm

[Adventure 80]

Another update on Clifford
The 4wd shed in Bayswater recently has a 15% off on kut snake flares so I bit the bullet and bought some
Very happy with the service, a 36 hour turn around from sale, reckon just missed postie on the way to work on Monday though

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After looking at how they would fit, despite my intentions ive decided to get someone else to fit them as they are made to hug the guard when fitted and I don't want to be the one to stuff that up when drilling into the guard
Starting to really come together I think, still trying to source some cheap black 16 inch rims tho
Only 70 days till I get my p's as well