Show me your "Adult" rigs and how you keep them running.

[Patrollife]

1990 Nissan Patrol GQ TD42 SWB, restored, practically brand new engine (roughly 5,000 kms), all ARB/OME goodies, factory rear locked, with front ARB lockers and adjustable panhards on the way. The shorty is my DD but that doesn't stop me from putting her to the test on weekends. Absolutely love this rig!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[warwickscout]

78 scout ,392ih S.O.A, 36 in tires ,fully redone ready to go anywhere

 

[Nosferatu49534]

78 scout ,392ih S.O.A, 36 in tires ,fully redone ready to go anywhere

Holy crap that is awesome. I love those.

 

[pappawheely]

 

[houndofmeath]

Being born in 1989, Fry is getting up there in age. Always down for adventure though. Not much work done on him, he was good to go right out of the box

 

[Dr. Marneaus]

My POS.

43 years old. 1973 Wagoneer. More work, money and hours into it than I care to admit.



1987 engine/ignition with 1973 4bbl intake and edelbrock performer. all smog crap deleted.
Rebuilt Turbo400
Electric fuel pump and new fuel lines throughout
Rebuilt 1977 Dana 44's with stock 3.54's
1977 brakes from the pedal itself out to each wheel.
4" lift, 33x10.50's on factory 15x6" wheels.
Aluminum radiator
Headlights rewired and upgraded to H4's (best $100 I ever spent on the rig).
Wavy body with a shoddy paint job.

This thing, while running and apparently somewhat maintained when i got it, appears to have been used and used hard. Big ole hitch, electronic brake box, dual fuel tanks, tons of dents and body damage that was poorly repaired, front seat reupholstered...stock transmisison case had been split from ear to ear and welded back together, heads on the old block were from 1984 (so somebody likely overheated and warped em), had a transmission cooler, oversized mirrors..... Somebody put a ton of miles on this thing, towing. Odometer read 87,000 when i got it. It now reads 03500ish. Pretty sure that means its 203500 or even more.

It's been a ton of work, but it gets me where I want to go, most of the time. Generally gets used for couple hundred mile round trips for camping and just cruising around town. As of the last year or two its been pretty reliable. I wouldn't hesitate to hop in it and drive 500 miles....but i'd still bring my tools.

Next steps are new interior, and fuel injection.

Most recent, albeit boring, pic




Can sometimes be seen towing this 35 year old popup around the southwest.






And then there's this thing....but it doesnt really belong on this forum.

 

[grandpa]

Thanks for keeping this on the road. I fully understand about the labor and expense.

 

[XJLI]

That's a beautiful waggy.

 

[mkitchen]

My POS.

43 years old. 1973 Wagoneer. More work, money and hours into it than I care to admit.

1987 engine/ignition with 1973 4bbl intake and edelbrock performer. all smog crap deleted.
Rebuilt Turbo400
Electric fuel pump and new fuel lines throughout
Rebuilt 1977 Dana 44's with stock 3.54's
1977 brakes from the pedal itself out to each wheel.
4" lift, 33x10.50's on factory 15x6" wheels.
Aluminum radiator
Headlights rewired and upgraded to H4's (best $100 I ever spent on the rig).
Wavy body with a shoddy paint job.

This thing, while running and apparently somewhat maintained when i got it, appears to have been used and used hard. Big ole hitch, electronic brake box, dual fuel tanks, tons of dents and body damage that was poorly repaired, front seat reupholstered...stock transmisison case had been split from ear to ear and welded back together, heads on the old block were from 1984 (so somebody likely overheated and warped em), had a transmission cooler, oversized mirrors..... Somebody put a ton of miles on this thing, towing. Odometer read 87,000 when i got it. It now reads 03500ish. Pretty sure that means its 203500 or even more.

It's been a ton of work, but it gets me where I want to go, most of the time. Generally gets used for couple hundred mile round trips for camping and just cruising around town. As of the last year or two its been pretty reliable. I wouldn't hesitate to hop in it and drive 500 miles....but i'd still bring my tools.

Next steps are new interior, and fuel injection.



Since you are so close, keep your eyes peeled on this forum for our Old Iron Run. This year's run will be in the fall as that is the earliest I can get time to put one together. Your Wagoneer would fit right in with the rest of our old stuff. I have a 71 Ford F 250 and I love it.
Mikey

 

[washington taco]

I am not sure your 2000 tacoma counts as a Adult rig.

Its the miles, not the years!

 

[mkitchen]

Old Iron Run

Well, since this is a thread about "Adult" rigs, I thought I would bring up the Old Iron Run. In the past we have limited the run to vehicles that were 1980 or older but in the interest of meeting more folks with older vehicles, we are going with the concept that was brought about with this thread. So if your vehicle is old enough to sit up to the bar, then it's old enough to catch the next Old Iron Run. 21 years or older is welcome to come along.

At this point, the next Old Iron Run will be this fall and that is only if I make it back from Alaska and the Yukon. We usually like to make it a four day, three night, event that has so far taken place in Arizona. The length and location have not been chosen yet but we hope to have that set by the time Overland Expo happens so that we can hand out some flyers. So far, we have not had any entry fees and I don't see that changing. We keep it a simple affair with everyone taking care of their own meals with a pot luck dinner for Saturday night. There will not be a base camp as we move to a new camp each day. As the plans come together some more, I will create a thread for the event. This is just a bit of a plug for those who might be interested and think their adult vehicle may still be running by this fall.

I should also note that Expedition Utah does a similar event and as hard as I have tried, I have yet to get up there for theirs. They have the Relic Run (which out dates the Old Iron Run) and they now have the Retro Ramble too. The Relic Run is for vehicles up to 1979 and the Ramble for vehicles up to 1989. I think we all started seeing the light, that if we keep the vehicle year at 79/80, we are going to run out of eligible folks. We have a lot of fun seeing new country, sitting around the campfire telling stories and believe it or not some of the folks attending even know a bit about these old gems of a bygone era and can be quite informative. So, something to look forward to.
Mikey

PS Yeah, I know my avitar does not look like an old truck but honest, I really do have one.

 

[Nosferatu49534]

Couple more years and mine will be old enough. And hopefully it will be looking a lot better by then as well.

 

[AFBronco235]

Wish I could make it out to the Old Iron Run, but between moving, leaving the military and restarting college, I just won't have the time then.

 

[TeriAnn]

First of all I would like to thank all of you for posting all those great pictures of your vehicles. I really enjoyed looking at all the eye candy.

I think my truck fits in this thread. It is a 1960 Land Rover Dormobile. When I first saw her in March 1978 she was a broken down worn out 18 year old that had been driven long miles without proper maintenance. The then current owner had inherited her from an uncle in New Hampshire. He drover her back to California and up and down the west coast to sell at craft fairs. He knew to put oil in the engine but nowhere else. Eventually the rear diff ran dry and he continued driving it long miles in front wheel drive until the transfercase ran dry. Luckily it happened near his home so he had it towed home where it set for a few years before I encountered it. $350 changed hands and I towed her home. Thankfully I met a retired person who used to own a British car repair shop that was a factory authorized Land Rover warranty repair shop during the days when all Land Rovers had leaf springs. He took me under his wing and mentored me, answering my questions and providing good used parts out of his home garage shop.

With his help I got the truck going again but she was far from reliable. When I went over a speed bump it sounded like a galvanized bucket with a handful of loose nuts and bolts thrown in. All from loose fixings and elongated bushing centre holes. At first the engine wanted to stall on left turns. I discovered it was because one of the two mounting studs was missing and the nut on the other was half unscrewed. So when I turned left the carb tilted. It took about a year to get all the worn bushings replaced and all the loose fixings tracked down and tightened. During that time I broke the first of seven rear axles and 2 front axles while pulling a chicken shed to a new location. Anyway she became my daily driver and I took her to work about 45 miles each way over a mountain range for about 20 years before I started working at home. During the 38 years I have owned her we have traveled through most of the United States and Canada. Most of our trips were a month or longer in duration.

I kept her stock for the first 20 years I owned her, just maintaining her in very good running condition. The first change was replacing the 10 spline Rover rear axle assembly with a Salisbury (Dana 60 built under license and standard on Series III and newer through 2001). The Salisbury got uprated axles and an ARB locker. From then on it was a slippery slope. Most of my trips were over 1000 miles with a top level highway speed of 55 MPH. The 2.25L engine was optimistically rated at 70 hp and I told people the truck could go 0 to 60 same day assuming no headwinds or uphill sections. I was passed uphill by big rigs going a lot faster than I was and occasionally by an old VW van with a grinning driver. There are roads in Utah that have a minimum speed limit that I could not reach going uphill. Did I mention that Dormobiles are a little heavier than other 109s, that the truck as 3 fuel tanks (42 gallon capacity), plus a 15 gallon built in water tank?

By 1999 I had been scared enough by people passing just before the peaks of hills and on blind curves and I had been run off the road in Montana by a big rig who pulled in too early while passing me. It was time for a new engine. I sourced a freshly rebuilt 302 from a 1969 Mustang, a T-18 gearbox (later replaced with an NP-435) and a High ratio Series transfercase from Ashcroft Transmissions. The Series transfercase is very robust and the gearing gave me a higher high range without sacrificing my low range ratio. The gearing gives me a 50:1 low range ratio at the axle and 65 MPH at 2650 RPM. A big problem with a carb is that it doesn't do well when you change altitude 6 or 7000 feet. So I swapped in 1993 Mustang fuel injection. The engine self adjusts to altitude changes, has more power at idle than the 2.25L had at peak , is lighter weight and gets better fuel mileage.
When I did the EFI conversion I also uprated the front axles and installed a front Trutrack to go with the rear ARB and converted the front from drum brakes to disc brakes. Since the conversion genie was released I added a radio, heated windscreens, and heated Defender seats with their lumbar support.

These pictures are from late 1997 right after I had her painted British Racing green:

And some miscellaneous pictures:

Camped in Kane Creek Canyon, Moab region

With the V8 I removed the 4 cyl snorkel and replaced it with a Donaldson filter and precleaner on a short snorkel for maximum airflow. I also went to early Defender front wing sides. The wheels are from a Disco I with 33 inch dia tyres.

The horizontal propane tank is inside space between the inside and outside body panels so it takes up no usable space inside or outside the vehicle.

Monument valley

Camped on California's Mojave trail

Camped alongside a river in British Columbia​

 

[ober27]

Wow, I'm impressed! Thanks for sharing TeriAnn.