Swb trail rig

[Mercury33]

Swb patrols are pretty cool. They keep you on your toes thats for sure.
So the story of this guy goes like this. An old fella owned this one since almost new. He had left it parked under a carport for years, only taking it around the block once in a while. Its a weird car. It has been maintained well mechanically but the body has been left to rot. Seriously this thing runs so smooth for still being a points dizzy. For a few days when i got it I was reaching for the key when i would pull up, i thoguht it had stalled it ran so smooth. My mate Brendan got it off the old boy. He cleaned it up and put some old 2 inch coils and shocks in it. He drove it for a week or so until the inevitable cooling system failure one would expect from a derelict car reared its head in the form of a leaky radiator. He parked it for a while, decided he had too many cars and then offered it to me. We decided on a cash figure and some trade in parts and i was back in a swb for the first time in 5 years or so.
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This build has always been from day one, a budget oriented fun build using whatever parts i had lying around. First up i made a front and rear bar, cut the guards to clear the 35/11.5 r16 simexes and did a quarter chop. Its definitely not my nicest work but it suits this build. Being so rusty in the sills i decided against rock sliders and just left the sills to fate for the sake of a bit more clearance.

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Believe it or not that bar started out as an ARB bar that was a bit mangled and had been leaning up against a tree for 3 or 4 years, 2 gq panhards, 2 lower trailing arms and a random bit of 40nb i cut from an old bench i was scrapping. Who says 4wders arent environmentally concious? Beat that recycling effort. Its just a basic pre-runner style thing with great clearance and holds a WARN slow mount in foot down position. I rebuilt the winch and added a 6hp motor, genuine plasma rope, and an albright solenoid mounted behind the grille.

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The rear bar is pretty basic and not actually finished in this pic. It incorporates recovery points and can take plenty of abuse without yielding.

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Time for the maiden wheeling trip!!

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Deciding against sliders rewarded me with this awesome dent. Maximum style and added bonus is the door opens and shuts flawlessly and window operation is like showroom. Came with a great story of a gnarly run up a meandering creek in a rocky gully.

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After the first trip i decided traction was definitely an issue. I pulled a rear e locker out of another car and gifted it to the shorty.

Time to go wheeling again. Headed out to the tracks i love down south for a weekend with good mates and hard wheeling. Took a bit of getting used to learning to pick swb lines with not a lot of travel. Makes great pics but...

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My tig welding skills are non existant so my boss offered to make me a through the bonnet stainless snorkel. I modified the factory air box so i could attach 4 inch ducting direct from the snorkel. Also added some 3 degree castor bushes and some transmission spacer plates i made from some 12mm steel at this time. The driveline vibes are still there but have improved vastly and the castor bushes have sorted the vague steering out.

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Next on the menu i will be extending the wheelbase 200mm. Should be fun. Pics to follow in a month or so when i get in to it.

[Kimbo63]

Nice truck mate wish they had imported the gu swb in Aus

[threedogs]

Thanks for sharing when does the turbo get fitted lol

[Mercury33]

turbo tb? Nah. Kind of a redundant mod in my opinion. Reliability is king. If i was chasing power a 48 or ls conversion is what i would do to have power and reliability. A tb42 on the bopper in low range is better than most people realise. They can take all manner of abuse all day long.

[threedogs]

I think Trent Leen's Patrol [lime green] started life ,, the same as yours
they added 300mm in the Middle, very capable Patrol with Trent behind the Wheel.
A lot of ppl dismiss the petrol as a great off road option