1978 Aussie Traveler

[Bradley56]

Hey Luke your a lucky guy
Great car to start with
I am wondering the cost of the gauges restoration?
Mine are not good and hard to see at night
Have been considering upgrade to 6 round vintage look digital but will cost about 1 thousand bucks

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[J.J.]

Hey Luke your a lucky guy
Great car to start with
I am wondering the cost of the gauges restoration?
Mine are not good and hard to see at night
Have been considering upgrade to 6 round vintage look digital but will cost about 1 thousand bucks

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Nice one! Not trying to hijack his thread, but on your dash and gauge lights, have you considered LED? Only downside is they can't be dimmed, but they are BRIGHT! I did the ones in my '76 Scout II and glad I did. Much better and I like the light, its kinda blue vs pale yellow. Under $20 for the bulbs. Not the best of pics but gives you an idea:

JJ in TN

 

[LukeM]

Bradley - 3x gauges were tested and restored for $300.
(Note that I am in Australia)

 

[mongocanfly]

Bradley...I had my gauges done by D&M restoration...definitely not cheap but i wanted to keep the stock look ..http://dandmrestoration.com
What's making yours hard to see? The lighting or faded gauges?...if it's just lights what JJ did will work

 

[Bradley56]

Bradley - 3x gauges were tested and restored for $300.
(Note that I am in Australia)

OK thanks mate!
Yes I'm in Oz as well!


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[Bradley56]

Bradley...I had my gauges done by D&M restoration...definitely not cheap but i wanted to keep the stock look ..http://dandmrestoration.com
What's making yours hard to see? The lighting or faded gauges?...if it's just lights what JJ did will work

Cheers Buddy!

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[mongocanfly]

Bradley, I guess Oz means your from across the big water also?
D&M is in S. Carolina ..probably not much help for you...

 

[LukeM]

Bit more done today.
- new shocks installed
- both diffs drained (think there was more mud in the rear than oil).
- exhaust manifolds skimmed, painted and cooked in the oven.
- seats dropped off to the trimmer to be redone. The base under one of the buckets was pretty rusty (it was taken from another car). Hopefully I can reclaim it. Doesn't look too bad in the image, most of the bad rust is under the black plastic cover. Trimmer is pulling the covers off then giving me the frames to fix / clean / paint.
- Front calipers - new seals, cleaned and painted. Cylinders were OK to reuse.

Transmission and transfer case due back next week, so plan to do rear main seal and sump gasket before that goes back in.

 

[LukeM]

Seat base ended up worse than hoped for!
Might need to hunt a new one down.

 

[J.J.]

how does a seat base rust like that????

JJ in TN

 

[LukeM]

how does a seat base rust like that????

JJ in TN

The car they came out of apparently got stuck on the beach many years back and then spent a couple of high tides there until it was rescued. It was written off and parked. Surprisingly the passenger side was perfect!

 

[winchested]

The car they came out of apparently got stuck on the beach many years back and then spent a couple of high tides there until it was rescued. It was written off and parked. Surprisingly the passenger side was perfect!

I figured the salt had hit it.

 

[J.J.]

Makes perfect sense, that saltwater will do that. I had one out here that I purchased for parts, the guys boast was "I drove it on the beach all the time". Yes, he sure did. And even fixed the rust issues too. HAHAHA

JJ in TN

 

[Patrick Morris]

Makes perfect sense, that saltwater will do that.

The stuff's like acid. So many people think, "California truck. No rust!" Hah. If you live near the ocean, the onshore breezes carry a caustic air.

 

[Patrick Morris]

Well, if a better seat base can't be found down there, here is mine. It's possible to send it, though I don't have a box big enough for it right now. If you just need the steel, so much the better.

And BTW, this is a good example of California surface rust. The piece is solid though.

 

[LukeM]

Bit more done today.
Got the front and back axles and brakes completed. A few delays with ordering the wrong front wheel seals from US meant this took longer than planned!
The front hubs are back together without the automatic bits inside so its constant 4WD for now. Will likely replace with new manual hubs down the track.
Also managed to find a seat base from a local guy, so all the seat parts went to the sand blaster today.

 

[J.J.]

The stuff's like acid. So many people think, "California truck. No rust!" Hah. If you live near the ocean, the onshore breezes carry a caustic air.

it is always interesting to see how they rust in different parts of the country, all based on local environment conditions. Your right about the salt air.

JJ in TN

 

[LukeM]

Bit more progress.

Transmission and TC came back from being rebuilt. Now installed in the truck.
Changed rear main seal, sump gasket and water blasted out engine and replaced all welch plugs while there was room.

Manifolds are back in, but due to replacing the transmission mount, the exhaust doesn't line up with manifolds any more. The engine and tranny must have been sitting low at the back because the old mount was non existent. The exhaust was made to suit this. so now with the tranny back up where it is meant to be, the angle between bottom face of manifold and mating face of exhaust is about 5 degrees. Didn't bother trying to pull it up as the donut will just blow out I think. Trip to exhaust guy added to the list...

Got the dash out for repairs and painting.
Installed new starter motor. Not wired up yet, as that will be part of full rewire.
Changed all the rear wheel studs to suit the bronco drums I used (15mm longer). Used one of those wheel stud install tools for the first time. That was money well spent!

New warn 9062 hubs turned up to, so need to change those over. Just have to buy some shorter bolts.

 

[TravelerMan79]

Looking good. Interesting to note that IH didn't change the floor pan for RHD. Gas pedal hump is still there on PS. D'oh. Lol...
I just pulled my dash and I must say yours is much more dusty. Mine looks almost pristine.

 

[LukeM]

New 9062 manual hubs installed.
New master cylinder installed and brake system bled and all working.
New handbrake cable installed.
All new uni joints installed with drive shafts.
Tailgate, grille and a few other parts went to the painters.
Body mounts next...