Rod, couple of questions, having read both this thread and your member's ride thread:
Talk about stretchING the memory mate
What style of bushings have you used in the front end - rubber or polyurethane, and any comments either way on them?
I used polyurethane bushes all round mate. I am actually quite happy with the ride quality compared to the tragic boatyness it had before it was replaced. The springs and shocks were al ldone at the same time. They are nothing over the top just king springs and Koni Yellow shocks. Front sway bar is a white line item and the rear adjustable panhard rod was fromthem as well.
What are your current spring and shock selections up front, and what model power steering box have you used? I assume MS65, if so, is this a bolt in and up fitment? How does it drive and steer - any "old world qualms"?
The power steering upgrade is quite nice, if anything its a tad sensetive becasue I am using the pump off the 2J which runs at a higher pressure than the old MS65 steering box was designed to handle. A restictor in your power steering lines will probably sort this if it bugs you. Since I have a 10" sport wheel on the old girl for increased belly clearance and I tow allot I like it as it is. Fully loaded and at very low speed the power steering is still great and its not too light at high speed. The power steering box install is also pretty simple. You need to use the MS5x series Pitman and idler arms and the MS5x series drag link. The MS65 power steering box will bolt straight upto the chassis and the MS5x series pitman arm goes straight onto the bottom of the box. The steering column needs some love tho. The very bottom part of the MS65 shaft needs to be fitted inside the bottom of the MS5x shaft. This requires the shaft to be stripped and you may get creative with the reassembly it actually wasdn't as bad a job as i was expecting.
Any pics of your engine mounts and dipstick jobbies?
Engine mount pics I will have, I have the whole conversion up in the gallery that crashed so I wil get them all back online
What radiator hoses did you end up using?
Crap, can't remember. I'll let you know when it comes to me.
Can you give us a detailed listing of the current braking system and your thoughts on it's performance?
The braking system is awesome compared to stock BUT it still needs some work. The rears are stock MS112 rear disc brakes and callipers with the stock handbrake cable. one of the handbrake cable mounts should be moved (I haven't done it yet)
The front brakes are MS65 hubs on either MS123 stub axels or MS65 series 2 stub axles. I had so many different options happening but I am 95% sure we ended up with the MS123 ones to help clear the rims/tyres but still use the bigger ball joints from the MS65. From memory the MS65 ball joint location sat about 5-10mm closer to the tyre which was to close with 16" rims. 17" should clear it no worries.
The front callipers are HZ 1 tonner Girlock items (the PBR ones fit better but use smaller pads - the Girlock callipers required some gentle clearancing) and the rotors are also holden items - DBA part number DBA 4014USR and DAB4014USL for undrilled. Shep from Classic Crown has the right up on his sight with pics and everything on how to put em together. The booster and master Cylinder is a random unit off a 4WD SR20 powered nissan wagon. Thats all I know The brake lines were all redone with braided lines and it just needs a slight bias adjustment to be perfect. Unladen the rears lock up to late for my liking.
More questions to follow!
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