Davebo's GLS BUILD

[fridgie]

Uhh tim... he's in Sydney, not brissy...

I think he was talking about seeing me on the highway frazzle dazzle

[Tim007]

Dave any thoughts on if you are color coding your rear bar or steps when they go on? I am keen to see some pics of the bar fitted. It may help me make some decisions. My rear bar is on but is still black.

[davebo]

was gonna keep the sliders and rear bar black... work in with the tints and wheels... but they're going to be a next year thing i think.... - the money's drying up reeealll quick!! (just wish the weather would do the same! )

[davebo]

ok, so... bullbar install..

got up nice and early... 8:30am on a sunday!! and was greeted with blue skies and perfect weather! a little hungover i thought i must've misread the thunderstorms prediction for the day.. and decided it was BULLBAR DAY!!

The old girl looked reeeeaaal preeety without the nudgebar on...


and soon enough i'd managed to get the whole front end off... suprisingly not too hard!



now for the scary bit... the ARB instruction manual...

cut 120mm down from the sides and 20mm from the middle... famous last words hey ARB!?!
20mm from the middle... the middle of where? i mean obviously the middle of the bar, but 20mm from the numberplate section, or 20 mm from the bottom??

after a while, and a lot of deliberation, i chose 20mm from the number plate section. taped her up... twice... three times just to make sure i was on the right line.. then took the front panel back off and bladed up the jig saw...



This i think was probably the hardest part to get my head around... i have to do what to the front bar??

it's so hard to bring yourself to purposely start cutting up a perfectly good car...(bought back memories of the "modifications" to my shitbox rally car!)



The bar is now cut, and i'm looking up in the sky... thinking where the hell did those clouds come from?



not two minutes later it starts pissing down!! a quick clean up of the tools and other car bits floating round the back yard and a mad dash to get the front of the car tarped up and were good to go with the rest of the install.


front mounts are on. new holes drilled, braces in place, and it's time to think about the winch....

now inside to the dry and the bull bar sitting lazily in the loungeroom floor. winch in hand, and keen as mustard to see it fit. I jumped back on the laptop for a few minutes to get some forum advice (can't remember who it was) about rotating the gear lever , took a little while, was a pain in the arse, but figured it out.

then to try and bolt it upto the bbar... aaaaaand the bolts are too short...... bah, stupid aldi crap!! hahahaha
so the executive decision was, i'd be off to the bolt shop to get some new high tensile bolts long enough to accomodate the winch and fairlead onto the bar... but that will be a job for another day.

Back to fitting the bar. with the help of a mate, i was able to get the bar on the car, tighten up everything and add the final adjustments to the inner guards, add the protection plate thingos that came with it, and stand back in the dark and hope to hell it looks ok in the morning!


i'm thinking finished product looks ok! just a shame there's no winch in it!

[g_mac]

Nice work Davebo. I had the exact same problems you had deciphering the instructions. I think 20mm from the number plate is right isn't there extra bolts in the ARB bag for fitting a winch? (I could be wrong)

[davebo]

good to hear it wasn't just me GMAC!

yeah, the thread style wasn't quite right for the square nuts though... my mate helping me is one of those engineer types, and he kinda advised against them... so i took his best judgement...

[Tim007]

Good work mate. You would have to be proud of the effort.

[Tony81]

Looks the goods Dave, loving the color coded bars almost stealth like...

[fridgie]

I changed over the top hex head bolts for round headed ones with allen key slots when fitting my winch, just seemed too close to be able to get a socket on them without scratching up the bar..

[davebo]

been a little while since i updated this.... thought i'd better pull my finger out!

so, since the last update i've managed to acquire and install an ARB rear bar, add some hi-lift hanging straps to the tray, mount the Aldi winch and fit some led strip lighting at a centre interior light (the lack of centre light because of the sunroof makes it a little dark in the back seat) oh... and my snorkel finally turned up, so we fitted that too!!

i'd write up a whole thing about it, but i've forgotten the exciting parts... so i'll just add some photos instead...




my neat and tidy place to keep my recovery gear


the new ARB Rear bar. - still feels like it's missing something... but it's a good start.... The only problem so far is that the hayman reece bolt point is set differently to the mitsu one, so i'm gonna have to buy new recovery shackle and towball/bar section before i can tow anything... grrrr (think i need to get one of the height adjustable ones anyway, the jetski sits a little high otherwise...


the long awaited insurance policy! - turned up a little worse for wear, but it got here in the end... lucky nothing was missing from the box!!


possibly one of the most apprehensive moments of my life....


had to make a few slight modifications to the overflow bottle to get it to fit... and you need really small hands to get the nuts on the inside of the guard.....


still... worth it in the long run! snorkel on, and all is good in the world again!

still need to buy some sliders...but they might have to wait, as the dreaded surging is becoming a big issue.... looks like it's off to mitsu to get the egr and scv looked at... unfortunately the k's are too high for it to be a warranty job. so i'm gonna have to fork out my left testicle to get her running properly again...

[borngeek]

Looking awesome there Davebo!

Time to get it dirty...

//The stock rock sliders have a little left in them yet!

[srb]

Yeah looks the goods Davebo, keep seeing you drive past me on the Parkway with something new bolted on

[davebo]

Yeah looks the goods Davebo, keep seeing you drive past me on the Parkway with something new bolted on

yeh, seen ya once or twice on the parkway, but by the time i realise it's too late

where do you take yours for service SRB?

[srb]

Yeah looks the goods Davebo, keep seeing you drive past me on the Parkway with something new bolted on

yeh, seen ya once or twice on the parkway, but by the time i realise it's too late

where do you take yours for service SRB?

I do the intermediate services myself but just used ColCrawford Narrabeen for my 15000k even though i said i would never go there again after an early warranty issue that went bad. But its only 5min walk from my place so stuff it! I don't like the service manager she's a bit special and their attention to detail is very average. The head mechanic seems ok but I would say only go there if you really have to.

[srb]

So Davebo Im keen to head out for a day trip 4wding soon to try out my new suspension, will have to wait a couple of weekends until i'm free but if your keen i will let ya know yeah?

[davebo]

yeah sounds good to me! always keen to a bit of a drive! febs booked out, but march some time could be the goods!
where were u thinking? what gear you got?

could probably invite some of the other sydney boys along too if they're keen!

[davebo]

Yeah looks the goods Davebo, keep seeing you drive past me on the Parkway with something new bolted on

yeh, seen ya once or twice on the parkway, but by the time i realise it's too late

where do you take yours for service SRB?

I do the intermediate services myself but just used ColCrawford Narrabeen for my 15000k even though i said i would never go there again after an early warranty issue that went bad. But its only 5min walk from my place so stuff it! I don't like the service manager she's a bit special and their attention to detail is very average. The head mechanic seems ok but I would say only go there if you really have to.

just booked my SCV in to be replaced by colcrawford... same deal - they're on the way to work for me... bloody expensive buggers... $580!!! but she's out of warranty, so i expected them to take me for a ride... just wish i knew how to do the bloody thing myself!

[srb]

Wow yeah not cheap! Maybe you could just buy the part and fit yourself? Not sure how hard this is but some one may know. This is all i could find -http://www.newtriton.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=10650&p=236217&hilit=Suction+control+valve#p235990

[srb]

yeah sounds good to me! always keen to a bit of a drive! febs booked out, but march some time could be the goods!
where were u thinking? what gear you got?

could probably invite some of the other sydney boys along too if they're keen!

Yeah more the merrier! I'm free in March on these dates - 4th, 17th, 18th, and 31st. Was thinking exploring the tracks around Lithgow. I haven't got much in the way of recovery gear other than snatch strap and shovel but i do have rear diff lock, bash plates and now a 2'' lift so will give most things ago.

[O-doggz]

...(bought back memories of the "modifications" to my shitbox rally car!)

Was it the 2010 Brisbane to Darwin SBR you were in?????? What Team/Car were you in? The wife and I were in that one. Wonder if anyone else on here has done it also.

[srb]

...(bought back memories of the "modifications" to my shitbox rally car!)

Was it the 2010 Brisbane to Darwin SBR you were in?????? What Team/Car were you in? The wife and I were in that one. Wonder if anyone else on here has done it also.

Not me, Davebo is the one that quoted that.

[davebo]

...(bought back memories of the "modifications" to my shitbox rally car!)

Was it the 2010 Brisbane to Darwin SBR you were in?????? What Team/Car were you in? The wife and I were in that one. Wonder if anyone else on here has done it also.

yeah, Brissy to Darwin one we were in Team Back-Up-Plan. the bluebird that's auto transmission drank a little too much river water and lost 1st and 2nd gears on day 4...

good to see some other shitboxers on here O-Doggz!! are you going again this year??

[davebo]

yeah sounds good to me! always keen to a bit of a drive! febs booked out, but march some time could be the goods!
where were u thinking? what gear you got?

could probably invite some of the other sydney boys along too if they're keen!

Yeah more the merrier! I'm free in March on these dates - 4th, 17th, 18th, and 31st. Was thinking exploring the tracks around Lithgow. I haven't got much in the way of recovery gear other than snatch strap and shovel but i do have rear diff lock, bash plates and now a 2'' lift so will give most things ago.

cool cool! - i'll check with the other half later and see when i'm allowed to play (she'll probs come too, but still.. best check the calendar )

[O-doggz]

Good to see some other shitboxers on here O-Doggz!! are you going again this year??

Na we've given it a miss this year, hopefully give it a go next year. How about yourself? I think i remember your car.... Was it the one with the 17's and low profile tyres? We had the falcon painted in brickwork.

[davebo]

Good to see some other shitboxers on here O-Doggz!! are you going again this year??

Na we've given it a miss this year, hopefully give it a go next year. How about yourself? I think i remember your car.... Was it the one with the 17's and low profile tyres? We had the falcon painted in brickwork.

yeah, that was the one i'm suprised it lasted the distance... she spent most of the trip to heartbreak hotel on the back of the car trailer... managed to sorta get her working after a few hours that night... but the deal was, we had to get pushed upto 40k in neutral before dropping it into drive... did that the rest of the way to darwin... made it more interesting thats for sure!!

yeah, giving it a miss this year too... maybe next year... see how we go