"CRATE" the GQ

Ok guys, I have had this for a while but have only just joined here so will post up a bit of a catch up!

This is the little beast that got me started on four wheel driving (and patrols)

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...Picture062.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...1092008138.jpg

Now for my current toy, partly because I wanted the extra space to do longer trips and partly because some flex would be nice once in a while..

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...g/IMG_4234.jpg

The specs..
5L Injected V8
3 link + panhard Front
4 link + Panhard Rear
6 Point Cage
SAAS Racing Seats and 4 Point Harness's
35's (The Claws from the MQ)
Front and Rear Airlockers
Warn High Mount, Radio's (AM and UHF), CD Player
and all fully engineered for everything :D
Also came with dirt, dents, rust, stuffed bushes and really stuffed shocks :(

Some more Pics..

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...g/IMG_4232.jpg

Why it needs drop out cones..

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...g/IMG_4240.jpg

And for some reason steering stoppers too, (dw the gouge is no where near as deep as it looks)

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...g/IMG_4247.jpg

And my really squashed/rusted roof gutter

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...g/IMG_4245.jpg

So then the revamp started

All new bushes underneath
All new shocks
Dropping down from 5" to 3"
Steering Stoppers
Rear Drop out cones
New front bump stops
New pads and rotors in the front
Steering knuckle rebuild
New front doors
New sound deadener and vinyl throughout
New flares
The 35" MT Claws off the MQ (MTZ's on it are really only good for spares)
Knocking out dents cutting, out rust and a general touch up

The 1.75" Chromo hex bar links.. every link is made out of this stuff :cool:
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4302.jpg

New Bump stops (Pedders 80 Series Landcruiser Rear's $100 for the pair)
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4295.jpg

Diff out work in progress
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4291.jpg

Did some rust repairs..

Cutting out the rust..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4307.jpg

Fitting the new section in..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4316.jpg

Welded in..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4324.jpg

Some more.. yeah welding isn't so good.. but im happy with it for my first crack at sheetmetal!
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4318.jpg

Then I used some rust converted and painted it all with acrylic cold gal..

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4378.jpg

Can see in this one where i patched up ALL the stupid holes in the floor.. now the water can only get in the doors :)
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4376.jpg[/img]

Also started on the crushed and rusted roof gutters.. straightened and cleaned up here..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4356.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4353.jpg

All new bushes in and linkages back in.
New shocks and steering dampener are here, rears installed.
Got some secondhand swivel hubs, and new stubs, nuts and cone washers for the high steer.. you can see why in the pics below..
Sound deadening all done inside.
Fixed up the chop and made some 100mm flares for the right hand rear.. only 3 to go :roll:
Ok so pictures of progress..

The links are all in now.. this is just after painting
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4398.jpg

The floor after some cold gal and chassis black..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4400.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4401.jpg

The silver on the left is resomat.. and the right is waterproof underlay foam..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4407.jpg

The welded on high steer arm.. covering up the sloppy king pin bearings..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4292.jpg

You can see where the weld breaking took a big chunk out of the side.. so to be safe got new swivel hubs..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4413.jpg

Guard chop all neat.. have 60mm to the nearest part of the guard on the front.. where my shocks bottom out with 35" MTZ's.. Should be able to fit 37's.. if ever necessary
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4404.jpg 8)

OK pics of links all in.. and shiny new bits.. including drop out cones

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4419.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4423.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4421.jpg

Guard chop is almost finished (3.5/4)
New grille parkers and tail lights on order should arrive this week
some random bits painted more to go..

Testing..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4480.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4479.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4483.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4476.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4469.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4465.jpg

Progress..

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4530.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4531.jpg

Flares that cover the bit between the outer and inner guard too..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4491.jpg

Stone guard to replace that shitty bit of plastic in front of the rear wheel, and also on the bottom of the doors..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4499.jpg

Oh and seats back in..

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4532.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...I/IMG_4498.jpg

So then it was finished (or so I thought)

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...F/IMG_4545.jpg

and bogged for the first time..
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...F/IMG_4550.jpg

Here is a little vid of me saving some guys in a jeep Rolling Eyes (its better with the sound on)

http://youtu.be/Qrf3csKWcOI

Few things on the list to fix up as there always is.. including my first dint in the new paintwork! And perhaps an exhaust that isn't stupidly loud.. but mostly working on building my new carport shed to keep it in!

So after all that work getting it up to scratch suspension and body wise I got it out for a run twice and the engine rings decided to disappear and let oil be burnt! So after a 2 week engine rebuild it was ready for a Walhalla run:

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...3-06-11030.jpg



http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...3-06-11052.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...3-06-11053.jpg

Sweet mate good build thread

Nice build mate. Looking very good. Can I see some pics of the cage and the side rails please. Did you buy it with the cage and Engineers? Is it CCDA approved? Looking to maybe do a non approved cage in mine as I will never race.

Looking to do the side bars front and back in the coming months.

Hey mate.

Did you design the 3 link yourself?

Can you throw up some pics up of the way the links mount to the chassis please?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MudRunnerTD

Nice build mate. Looking very good. Can I see some pics of the cage and the side rails please. Did you buy it with the cage and Engineers? Is it CCDA approved? Looking to maybe do a non approved cage in mine as I will never race.

Looking to do the side bars front and back in the coming months.

---

Yes mate its CCDA approved, here are some pics for you, if you want any other details just ask.

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psl8jzggze.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps7fobp4pj.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psfjfewbqy.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps90iwgnkm.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...pstfx5ntjq.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ben-e-boy

Hey mate.

Did you design the 3 link yourself?

Can you throw up some pics up of the way the links mount to the chassis please?

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Ben no I didn't design the three link, I bought the car with it in already. The front links are all rear trailing arm bushes at the diff end and rose joints at the chassis end, with a swivel point in the link, a standard panhard is also used. The two lower links go basically from the radius arm mounts at the chassis end (see pics) to fabricated mounts on the back of the diff. The upper link goes almost parrallel to the drive shaft on the inside of the chassis to the top of the pumpkin.

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psuph6jvvi.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psgwwytemr.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psfqxirstd.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps1rwkyxwn.jpg

A bit on the steering, when I got it there was a very very dodgy backyard highsteer on that was crazily welded and way to high for the lift in it (I suspect it had 5-7" lift in it at some stage)

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4292.jpg

I then replaced this with MQ knuckles that I drilled out and machined up reverse taper bushes to fit the tie rod in to give me a sort of "mid steer", and it now looks like this:

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psh2bburov.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psqg6kgbai.jpg

Are you going to move the panhard at all. That and the draglink are at very different angles, it is a prime candidate for bad bump steer

Yeah Ben I have been thinking about it, bump steer is noticeable but not bad so haven't bothered yet. It is actually better than it looks, the bend in the panhard makes it look worse.

What did you do in the engine rebuild? Just put new rings std or bore out etc

Well the engine re-build was a bit of a mission I ended up doing it 1.5 times!

Engine was mild/hot to start with, fairly big cam and 40 thou oversize flattop pistons, the main issue being the shitty air filter/dual snorkel system it came with didn't filter out much dust at all and that had chewed out the rings, leaving me with low compression and lots of oil burning!

First time around it got a full rebuild:
I payed someone to:
- Check and hone out the block (stayed at 40thou oversize), install the cam bearings and put new pistons on the conrod. (they also measured all the bearing sizes for me)
- Valve's and valve seats re-done

Then I put it all together myself including a new much milder cam for some more low down torque. Here was my mistake, I followed the Holden workshop manual to the letter, but un-known to me the rear main seal is a absolute bitch to get right! So all went back in and was working great, but my rear main started pissing out oil :-( I drove it for a bit like this but then gave up and pulled it out again to fix that.

So if you want to install and rear main seal in a 304-308, this is how to do it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSQWlnvAIbI

Also on a side not, a complete V8 fits in the boot of a 97 corolla sedan.

Now the second time it was out, I had a bit more time available so I fixed up a few other things also:

- Handmade new extractors with a better routing with higher clearance
- Made new captive engine mounts out of rear trailing arm bushes
- Scored a ceramic coated intake manifold off a mate
- General engine bay tidy up and re-paint
- Lots of wiring tidying!

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps6ae089f6.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps8babf441.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps128a13d0.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psc5073e04.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps7c014131.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps4e6d05d6.jpg

great looking build , may I suggest bung holes in the floor wells for your style of driving,

haha thanks threedogs, way ahead of you though! All welded up :-)

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4377.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4376.jpg
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_4378.jpg

Great build keep it coming.. if you dont mind saying how much did block work cost, check and hone? Ive got bad rings and im hoping to be able to just hone and fit std rings. I have a feeling (being optimistic) the oil rings are stuck and a replace would suffice. But if theyre completely worn id need to go oversized which will require a lot more money so im trying to get a ballpark estimate.. other wise im just gonna spend 100 bucks for rings and see what happens xD

Thanks mate, I am trying to remember (it was a couple of years ago now) I think it was about the $650 mark. I pulled everthing apart for them though, and if you are going to replace the rings I suggest using a solid ring compressor, it makes it much eaiser.

Bit of work this weekend, got the diff centres back in, gone from 4.11 to 4.625 ratio and changee across to disc rear also. Here are some dodgy phone pics..

come together real nice mate, where do you find the time to work on it.

This rebuild is really well done, alot of time spend, good job mate!

I like the cage, it looks good. Hate that they introduced the new laws stopping us from welding in cages and having 6pt! Gotta love qld!

Thanks for the comments guys, as for the time, no kids and a very understanding missus really helps!

Small update, disk rear is all sorted, brakes all bled and have a nice firm pedal! Better than it has ever been, will do a bed in tomorrow and will see if these A1RM pads are as good as everyone says. Should be locking up 35's by all accounts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crate

Thanks for the comments guys, as for the time, no kids and a very understanding missus really helps!

Small update, disk rear is all sorted, brakes all bled and have a nice firm pedal! Better than it has ever been, will do a bed in tomorrow and will see if these A1RM pads are as good as everyone says. Should be locking up 35's by all accounts.

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better get this right or Cuppa will be onto me I have the RDA green pads and found
them to be "OK" in saying that if you are on the brakes all the time they are great.
They are for extreme conditions and braking all the time getting the temps up is where they shine.
How ever I don't drive it like its stolen and have found under gentle braking I believe is their weak point.
But I bought them to pull up my camper and patrol so in that context they should be fine
just thought Id mention it

Hey Crate how did you go with that Pin mate? I came across that stripped caliper yesterday damn it! It was still bolted to a half stripped front diff I have behind the shed. Do you still need one? Will one off a front work? I found it while unpacking from the Simpson trip. Sounds like you have it sorted mate?

Do you still run GQ diffs? When I swapped out for GU diffs the Brake upgrade alone was worth Every cent mate!!

Yeah I have heard the greenstuff pads are good too 3D, will see how these go today.

Yeah all sorted mudrunner, kinda embarrasing but turns out I had one all along, was just at my mums house in the bucket of spares I got with the car! Found them looking for something else..

Ps yep still have GQ diffs, GU upgrade would be alot of work with re setting up the 3 link

So got the brakes probably half bed in, pretty happy so far can't quite lock up the 35's but I will give it a run to work tomorrow and see how it goes. Stops twice as quick as previously though!

Also put the winch to work pulling out some stumps from my mates backyard.

Thought I would steal some other peoples great camera work from the meetup and post it here :-)

Too bad mudski called right when I was about to drive straight out of this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnRVbMtuPO8

Ha ha ha ha.... yeah bloody Mudski.... missed the Holden doing the whole section!!!

What a beast. Showed the video to few guys at work, and they awed at the sound of that V8!

Haha thanks guys, the old holden is in need of some TLC now though, not idling properly and a bit down on power will pull the plugs and check out the fuel pressure and try see what's what.

Some more plagiarized pictures:
http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psc3cb086d.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps3002ed7b.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps7524919b.jpg

Went through this thread after seeing the beast in the flesh on the weekend.
One word 'IMPRESSIVE'

Just got back from a few days up in the high country, didn't grab many pics but Crate went awesome! Wish I did the brakes and 4.6 diff ratios earlier, they have made a world of difference.

First couple of nights we stayed at O'tooles near the Thompson, then onto Licola via Chaynne Bridge and stayed at barkly river for a night. Then we took the Licola-Jamison road right through to Jamison and onto the Pines where we caught up with some friends camping right on Eildon there, great trip got to get out to the High Country heaps more next year!

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psd8adc3a9.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps1c238325.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psda282210.jpg

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http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps95377cc2.jpg

http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/p...psd344a3f7.jpg

Nice work mate glad you enjoyed

Nice GQ! Looks awesome!

anyone know how @Crate is going?