jims-terrano Project

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Well guys, you have spurred me on to get the latest update on here. Thanks for the kind words and encouragement, I've told my son about this too.

Well as you've all read this week been doing a few jobs and gaining confidence in my abilities all the time. Firstly found that the NS wheel bearing needed adjusting so with the usual great advice from this site I nipped the bearing up no problem. Then got the wheel back on and moved the truck so that I could work on the OS and first check was indeed the wheel bearing and sure enough it needed nipping up. Got this to a fine art now, around 15 mins:clap Mind you it's helped me having my trolley jack fixed thanks to my son for repairing it.

Found the OS Calliper outer dust seals ripped to shreds. Messed about ordering a hardware kit from local factors but this turned out to have bits missing so bit the bullet and ordered a complete calliper from Andrew Pages. Thought it's better this way so that both sides are the same and I don't want to mess about with brakes.

Wire brushed all the OS Suspension, brake components and the inner wing. Then treated with Fertan and today gave them all a second coat of Hammerite. All looking nice and clean ready for reassembly this week but I've got loads to do so not sure how much I'll be doing.

Decided that the track rod was seized so as I had replaced the NS thought I might as well do the OS too. Also found the ARB Link was duff which was no surprise so cut them both off which gave me more room to clean components.

So this weekend I was at a loose end waiting for Fertan and Paint to dry so decided that I would modify the brake lights into Stop and Tail Lights and I'll be working by myself this weekend as my son was busy. I had ordered some bulb holders from eBay last week so has the parts at hand.

First of all removed the brake lights from the car. Tried the new bulb holder and soon realised I need to cut a new bayonet notch for the bulb holder so out came the dremmel.







Needed to trim down the edge of the bulb holder so that it would sit into the recess in the lamp unit



Fits just nice and twists into position too.



I'm a bit concerned about the quality of the bulb holders so left the old stop light holders on the wiring just in case. Will keep the actual holders in the glove box or somewhere handy. All the joints are soldered and then covered in heat shrink rather than tape as tape deteriorates with time.



Fitted back in place, the brake lights work but not connected the side lights so will have to post a photo of that later.



The alarm horn had been disconnected due to not having a working key fob. Now I've got a working fob I decided to connect it up. Knew it was behind the side panel but never seen it before.



Next project is a pair of Work Lights mounted on the roof above the tailgate. Decided that I will use relays so that they will be connected to the reverse lights and also an over ride switch in the boot. Will be fitting a second battery later so these will run from the second battery. Looked around for a few weeks and decided to buy a pair of LED Work Lights from Milners, talked them into extra discount so result I think.
First job was to drill the holes, covered the two sections of roof in masking tape. Then marked where I wanted the lamps and measured and then measured again until I was satisfied I had the correct areas marked for the holes. I chose to use a pair of IP68 rated cable glands, not sure who it was but someone on here posted about using them for power to roof lights. Drilled the holes yesterday and then gave the bare metal a lick of hammerite. Then fitted them today but thought I'd use Tiger seal to water proof the lamp fixings and glands. I also bought some Stainless Steel bolts to replace the bolts supplied with the lamps. Can you tell I'm paranoid about bolts going rusty and water ingress.



Didn't think there would be enough heat to require such a big heat sink.





Tiger seal is a bit messy but all being well water proof and hey who will notice underneath those lamps.









Looking good :thumbs







Time to tidy up a bit. You can see the cables drooping down too. Again soldered all the joints and covered in heat shrink.



WHAT NEXT

Well I need to fit the new suspension and steering parts and the brakes too. Once this is done we are going to look at the welding on the OS floor and body mounting. Trouble is I don't have a lot of time this week so may end up being next Sunday before I do a great deal more.

Once again thanks for the great advice and support from the members of this truly great club. Can't wait to get the car back on the road and attend a few meets.
We await the next episode with bated breath, great article Jim!
 
Well a quick update. I won't be able to do much really until Sunday as there's a few other things going on this week.

Got home from work and got changed so that I could get straight on with the car, been sat at work waiting for finishing time.

So I built the brakes back up and bled the drivers side, still need to go around all four wheels for a final bleeding session.

My son helped fitting the new track rod and also the ARB link with it's polly bushes.

I'm really getting addicted to this project now :doh

So just a couple of pictures.





We had a quick poke around the body mount and drivers foot well. We are going to plan how to attack this and then start on it Sunday. Think this will be some major reconstruction work.

Briggie, have patience I've got some big plans for aerials:naughty
 
What a great project Jim.:thumb2

Quick Tip:-
When working on my Mav, when there are bits likely to drop on the floor, paint, oil, crud, even Waxoyl, I tend to put cardboard down, but more recently, I use a Cement/mortar mixing board, I sometimes use it in the boot of the mav when transporting rubble etc it doesn't move around in the wind, when it's under the truck, it has a lip around the edge that could contain all the antifreeze from it if it missed the bucket.
If you are dismantling say the front hubs, it catches all the nuts bolts, before they drop into the gravel, or in the gaps between the bricks lol.
I bought mine from Wickes 10 years ago, to... mix some mortar,:doh but I also use it for re potting plants too.
If it gets grubby, a strong detergent and a power wash, and sorted.
I store it vertically between the shed and the fence, easy to get to, so it gets used a lot.

Rustic
 

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Great idea Rustic, it's on my shopping list. The card board got wet and turned to mush.
 
Won't work for me.

:nenau

Tried everything, still can't get my cement mixer under the car!

:doh
 
Won't work for me.

:nenau

Tried everything, still can't get my cement mixer under the car!

:doh

I bet Rick can, with his two post lift lol..
Boy... do I wish I had one of them...
 
27/9/15 OSF Body Mount

Hi Guys, as expected not had much time to do a great deal this week and got started later today.
Had a slight set back today, Mr Angle Grinder is stuffed!! the little button that locks the wheel to allow you to change disks has broken and is jammed inside too. So a shopping trip this week. Typical I'm busy next weekend so goodness knows when this will get finished.

Started on the OSF body mounting, the one below the A post. The inner sill and mounting was crumbling away when we started cleaning it. So we decided to do a Makeitfit and cut a larger piece away so that we get to the welds easier. We are planning to make a replacement body mounting and strengthening plate around with 3mm steel.

Here's the body mount as we've cut it out, we inserted some temporary supports between the floor and top of the chassis just in case there was any movement.



The drivers footwell before we started.



The drivers footwell now, we still need to cut some of the corrosion back towards the wheel arch.



Looking down through the floor to the inner sill, just look at all the moisture in there. Now why do the sills rot out again:doh



My son is going to start making the new body mounting this week before college. Not sure exactly when we will get any time to actually get some repairs done which is making me a little down hearted. I know this truck has come a long way since we bought it and in reality it is not too far away from having an MOT but it just feel like it.
 
Call that a hole :lol On mine I got a bit of channel made up and welded everything to everything :sly


Final thing considerably stronger than Nissan's version :D


Top tip, buy your angle grinder from Screwfix. You can get them replaced FOC when they conk out then :naughty
 
That channel looks like a good idea:thumb2

Been looking on their web site too as I'll be passing a branch tomorrow.
 
Update 12 10 15

Just spent some more time with my son this weekend working on this truck, starting to get less appealing working outside even under cover so must ramp up the pace a little:eek:

So the body mount under the drivers floor was a focus of attention. A couple of weeks ago we cut the old mounting out and a section of floor because it was so rotten. Sadly before we had quite finished this task the angle grinder gave up on us. So a trip to screw fix bought us a replacement for £25 with a 2 year warranty.
Saturday I started off by cleaning the floor up around the hole and then cleaning the inner sill below removing the remains of a previous badly fitted patch. Didn't get any photos but my son welded a new piece of 3mm plate for a sturdy inner sill for the body mount to fasten to. Didn't get a photo of this but it's not that difficult to imagine the repair.
Sunday we started constructing a new body mounting out of 4mm and 3mm plate. Once fabricated and holes drilled for the body mount bolt it was then welded to a 3mm plate which is forming the new floor of the drivers footwell. We had to sandwich a 3mm plate between the new 4mm body mounting and 3mm floor plate so now the mounting is effectively 10mm thick. Just waiting to get a photo of the underside of the new body mounting.

The body mounting before mounting on to plates.



Dry fitting the mounting and floor plate before tacking together.



Compare the old and new.



Old and New mounted on to the underside of the floor panel. This section was fitted in from above.



The section welded into place and a small plate just in front of it towards the wheel arch where the original metal had got a little thin.



Will try and get a photo uploaded tomorrow of the underside showing the new body mount in place but so far quite pleased with it.

Also tidied the trims in the boot before removing the nearside to get to the towbar wiring. The wiring to be honest is not up to my standards, I personally hate scotchlocks. Found the fitter had connected both side light circuits to the towbar into just one towbar circuit on the vehicle loom so will want to separate these later. Found a neat little voltage sensing relay for the split charge and fridge supply for the 12s socket.



Split Charge Relay, don't really like the voltage sensing types but will probably keep this for now.



And now the mod you've been waiting for!!! The high level sidelights are connected and working :clap:clap



Also got the reverse lights working too but not got around to a photo to do them justice but they're effective.
 
Thanks guys it's appreciated but you can compliment the man himself. Mattsterrano is now a member on here and able to read the project thread for him self. Without him I'm sure this project would not of progressed as well as it has.
 
Great job. Did you put a post up explaining how you done the high level side light mod, with pictures? [emoji106]

Ian
 

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