Milly the Maverick

[90mav]

I bought a Zoo, I mean a maverick about 6 weeks ago to tidy up with my sons and use as a camping/ fun truck as well as to teach them to drive. My eldest has just got his 'L' license and has about 97 more hours to do...
The vehicle is a dark blue 1990 petrol auto maverick 7 seater (only 225k!) which came with a knackered auto box, so the first order was out with the slushbox and in with a decent reliable manual box and a new clutch.
The bill stands so far...$1500 for the truck
$700 for gearbox and all conversion parts and a set of fixed rear windows
$300 for new clutch
$270 for oils all through, filters, hoses, coolant etc.
$0 for the 31 inch muddies i pinched off my work ute...
So far the gearbox has been changed, she had a Christmas service and yesterday the boys and I gutted the interior, Gernied out the carpets and hosed out the inside.
Found a tiny bit of rust under the drivers and passengers foot well but no holes, and the usual cracking around the rear seat mounts.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the truck and the condition of it so far.

Next on the agenda is a suspension swap using a 4 inch kit and snorkle out of a mates shorty he is wrecking to 4.2 his GU.
We are hoping to have it on the road in a few weeks so I can get out there in the bush. Looking forward to a trip out to Sundown NP to try it out on the rocks and scrub...
Pics to follow!

[NissanGQ4.2]

Good stuff, looking forward to seeing some pics

[Bloodyaussie]

Good stuff mate, pics of the work in progress is always good... people love to see how a plan comes together not just the end result.

Anyway hope all comes together in time and you hit the tracks with boys in tow.

[MudRunnerTD]

Nice one mate. Great to see a Father / Son build. Look forward to the pics

[lorrieandjas]

Hi mate and welcome to the forum. Sounds like a great project to do with your son!

Jas

[90mav]

Sorry no pics yet... cant find my camera!

Fitted the one piece windows yesterday with a generic offset glazing rubber ($40) for both sides is a darn site better than the $75 per side from an autoglass place!
Knocked up a steel bumper bar today out of some 100x50 RHS and flat bar ($65). Not the classiest item but solid enough to tak a serious hit.
Just got to find the reverse switch wiring to get the lights working and reverse the polarity on the super crap washer bottle so it pumps water out and not air in... gotta laugh at chinese stuff eh?
Getting pretty close to rego now but its gettin hard to motivate my boys to help. They may have to just watch me enjoy the truck and miss out...

Bill now stands at $2875 pretty happy with that so far

[PMC]

Sorry no pics yet... cant find my camera!

Fitted the one piece windows yesterday with a generic offset glazing rubber ($40) for both sides is a darn site better than the $75 per side from an autoglass place!
Knocked up a steel bumper bar today out of some 100x50 RHS and flat bar ($65). Not the classiest item but solid enough to tak a serious hit.
Just got to find the reverse switch wiring to get the lights working and reverse the polarity on the super crap washer bottle so it pumps water out and not air in... gotta laugh at chinese stuff eh?
Getting pretty close to rego now but its gettin hard to motivate my boys to help. They may have to just watch me enjoy the truck and miss out...

Bill now stands at $2875 pretty happy with that so far

G'day 90mav,

Good onya mate, all the best with your build with your son!

Regards,

RLI

[threedogs]

G'day and welcome forum only runs on pics.lol Heaps of great ppl here ,tips and info on every topic.
jump in anytime and enjoy, and remember pics

[90mav]

Doh! No camera yet so still no pictures, but I got it roadworthied and rego'd today. Its not running too well but after chasing down a couple of vacuum leaks it is at least idling now. Got the last few bits sorted and now its tiume to get started on the fun stuff like lifting, fitting some cargo drawers and barrier and hunting down some bigger tyres. Its gonna look a bit funny with 3-4 inch coils and 31s under it. Could have a party under each guard! The bill is up to (about) $3500 now and the funds are running low so any mods in the next few months will be budget ones!
The first trip should be in the next month or so before easter with my youngest son (13). He wants to do a trip to rainbow beach for a night or 2 and maybe have a sneaky go at letting the clutch out...if I can get another booster for it by then! The rotten thing leaks like mad and stalls the engine when the pedal is pressed.

[90mav]

I picked up a set of coils a few weeks ago on ebay. Dobinsons 3inch they had written on the bits of masking tape attached... Its now 41/2 inches taller at the rear and 51/2 at the front! I scored a pair of Rancho RS9000 shocks for the front and sone konis for the rear. I also have a set of front arms with offset bushes and a set of adjustable panhards to go on too. The front is a bit hard at the moment but I figure its only going to put weight on there anyway...
Still no camera tho...

[90mav]

I figured how to put photos up in an album but still cant get them onto forum pages. There is a couple there to see now if you like.

[90mav]

hang on, how about this?

[90mav]

We had our first outing off road on the weekend up at Scenic Rim 4wd Park. I kind of dont really like 4wd parks but they are convenient to test out stuff before a real trip away.
Milly did well aside from a leaky clutch master which by the end of the day made it hard to select gears.
She got away with some minor rubbing of her rear quarter by a tree and a scraped sill. The front springs are very hard and seem to restrict articulation a bit but the rear is fantastic!
The little 31 inch tyres did well but I can see a set of 33s would be in order. I say 33s instead of 35s because I still have to deal with 3.9:1 diff ratios yet...
I have to say its very liberating to drive a truck on which panel damage is not a tragedy!

[Lera]

Looks really nice ! Wish there where more 4wd parks here in Sweden.sooner or later someone gets angry when they're figure out that I'm driving around in the forests here

[90mav]

I had a bit of a mainainence session last saturday. What started as a quick fuel sender change turned into a major effort involving draining and drying out the tank, vacuuming out the massive amount of rust flakes, blowing out the fuel lines and replacing fuel filter along with a heap of rubber fuel line in the engine bay. Also rebuilt a leaky clutch master, changed the fuel filler to one that doesnt allow water to get in and found out the reason that it has been idling high and running like crap...electric choke was wound up full.
I also removed my engine fan (the coupling has seized up) and have decided it runs heaps better without it. It doers tend to run a bit hot in traffic and slow going but if I turn on the A/C the electric fan fires up and cools it down anyway. It has heaps more power too.
I know I should just replace the coupling but have you seen how expensive they are???
Getting close to a camping trip so Id love to see how good or bad the fuel consuption will be...

I discovered my bargain rancho front shocks were wound up pretty hard and now since they are backed off a bit, it rides a bit softer up front.

My work ute (D22 dualcab) has been playing up this week so the mav got to come to work with me for a few days, has been kind of fun except for having to fill the back up with tools. mmm, maybe a chop is in order!

[threedogs]

Looking good, Glad you found your camera LOL
See what you mean about the 31s,
not a fan of that skate board look

[90mav]

I took my youngest son to rainbow beach last weekend for an overnight trip. The fuel consumption was not nice but at least I dont have to drive it all the time!
One of the front panhard bushes let go on the return trip making the front end shake uncontrolably at any speed over 50ish. I managed a temp fix by jamming a screwdriver between the chassis and panhard for the trip home but it still was a slow one... at least I saved some fuel there!
I also had a random incident of the clutch not engaging a few times on the beach leaving me without any drive for a minute or two. Not tragic but could be if I was trying to skirt around rocks while waves are approaching! I saw a rodeo and newish hilux floating in the surf just south of rainbow township. Ouch!

[burgo88]

always have wondered why they brought out the ford mavrick when clearly theyre a patrol lol sales tactic i guess lol