Hey New Isuzu member

[riverrat]

Gday all . Well I bought my first Isuzu powered ute today. Going by the info around its a 120 though I haven t measured the wheel base yet. ILL do that now actually.....
Yep 120. Well I have been lookinjg for a def ute for a good while now. Had adds oin the paper over the last couple of months with only 1 lead and no utes in the paper at all for ages. Seems people are hanging on to them here in NQ.

So this one came up in the paper. "Defender ute. Alloy canopy Isuzu 3.9 160K" etc....
thought I gotta have this car whecle before even seeing it a bit crazy I was speeding all the way there incase someone else got there before me, guts in a knot haha. Thanks too this forum ;)

SO I turn up and gees it looks rough , straight but rust in the fire wall dodgy paint. Im no mechanic and didnt check it over . Took it for a short drive loved the way it went so efortlesly (first drive of a turbo'd 3.9) and bought it for 6.5 k as is. 5th gear was noisy and thats all I knew plus the obvious leak from the steering box.

Well had the rwc today and now for the bad news.

Rear main seal bearing.
Steering box
Master brake cylinder
leaking diesel lines
Leaking injection pump
Rear upward shaft seal
wheel bearings front and rear
Rear torsionbar + balljoint
tyre rod +track rod ends


other stuff windscreen, rust repairs firewall , demister seatbelt etc. Lasty still have too sort out the gearbox.

This old fella I bought it of swears hes the second owner and the motors only doe the 160K as was advertised. HE had an aftermarket turbo fitted to it at around 130k and the custom alloy canopy on the back(practically new) cost him 6.5k.

HE let me take the car with reg but was real toey about getting it RWC asap . Reckons cause of the wife. Fair enough but the list is long so So it might tip them over the edge. Ill give them their plates back and take my time. Ive got some good local people here that should be able to help me if I need it towed . Just getting my head around the list atm and how I'll go about tackling it, what to do myself where to get parts yada yada....

Seems I didnt quite get the bargain I originally thought I did and doh! wont be getting out bush anytime shortly.

Any advise would be great Id like too keep the budget below 6K if possible but for that it seems Ill be doing a fair bit myself. I've got a good mechanical aptitude and built a few motors before but my health aint the best cause of a previous gut infection...

Still one thing at a time. For now I gotta figure out where to get the cheapest parts. Was reading up on the lt85 internal upgrades maxidrive did to them to handle the 4bd1. Still available? Ashcroft in the uk seem to have rebuild kits but I dont know if theyre comparable to the old maxidrive setup.

I got a lot too learn aye... :eek:

anyway cheers and here she is.

I got heaps more questions too :ohyes:



Bigup peeps :thumbsup:

[rovercare]

Only big things there is the rust and the gearbag, all alse is easy, cheapish, Bmac I think it was fitted a new LT85 to his county, maybe worth a chat, where abouts are you from?

[isuzutoo-eh]

Welcome to the fold! 120"s are awesome and pretty uncommon, I want one.
She does look a bit rough, but then you won't be too precious with the scrub pinstriping :)
Get stuck into it, once you're done you'll never be without a smile on your face when driving!

[riverrat]

Only big things there is the rust and the gearbag, all alse is easy, cheapish, Bmac I think it was fitted a new LT85 to his county, maybe worth a chat, where abouts are you from?

That was quick :D Cairns North Queensland mate. Yeah I haven t really had a chance to delv into the rust yet too see how bad it is. Might get ugly.. Thanks for the reassurance :cool:

[riverrat]

Welcome to the fold! 120"s are awesome and pretty uncommon, I want one.
She does look a bit rough, but then you won't be too precious with the scrub pinstriping :)
Get stuck into it, once you're done you'll never be without a smile on your face when driving!

Cheers for the welcome L4AL :D I'll do my best mate

The fella told me it was a 130 But it never quite looked it to me nor quite the 110 either. He was surprised when I told him the Isuzu utes only came out as 120's. IF thats true. I'm wondering if the how the 120's chassis is strength wise too...

nother pic

[Bush65]

Welcome and good luck with getting it back on the road.

AFAIK you are correct about all Isuzu trays being 120 from the factory. Land Rover extended the 110 chassis and fitted the Isuzu in Australia. BTW technically they are not Defenders (I'm being pedantic here).

The way they strengthened the chassis where it was extended, uses overlapping plates which cause corrosion starting in the lap.

The tray mounts can crack.

Have a look at rovercare's extracab thread in projects and tutorials forum for the chassis rust issues in his 120.

Edit: the 120 is my first preference for the 4x4 needing least mods to best fit what meets my ideals.

I've never been able to find them on the occasions when I have looked. Each time I then settled for something else and spent far to much time and $$ on mods to end up with something that still fell short.

[Dave_S]

Welcome aboard. If I were you I'd start by drawing up a plan and go from there. First step is to clean it - all of it. Inside, outside, underneath, everywhere. You'll get to know it better and find out any hidden defects. For you the next step is probably getting on top of the rust and any cracks in the chassis. This can be painful but it has to be done properly if you want to keep the car.

On the mechanical side there are always deals coming up and you can keep an eye out for stuff while you're getting on top of the rust. Try not to take the whole thing apart if you can avoid it. After a few months it can be pretty hard to remember how it all goes back together. Take digital photos of anything you do pull out, as you can refer to them later and post them here if you've got questions.

One thing you might take out is the engine and box assembly. That will let you work on it out of the car and give you good access to the front of the chassis and firewall/engine bay. It's also easier to replace the steering box with the engine out.

Good luck!

[flagg]

Try not to take the whole thing apart if you can avoid it. After a few months it can be pretty hard to remember how it all goes back together.


Good advice.. but it will be hard considering you need the GB out and firewall repairs.. (considering its a tray back, there isn't much left :angel: )

You should be able to fix all that on budget - except the GB. To do the GB on the cheap you will almost definitely have to swap it out with an LT95. There is one in the markets now that may suit for a few hundred (you may need a different bell housing..) which would be a good start. There are quite a few on the forum who have made this mod.

As mentioned the other bits and pieces shouldn't be too hard. I'm doing a rolling restoration on my Isuzu 110 (its my daily drive) and this is what I did..

1. Went right over the car and worked out everything that had to be replaced. Wrote it all down.
2. Got a few quotes for all the bits, and an estimate on the work I couldn't do myself.
3. Realised that I could have got very tidy td5 the money I was about to spend (ahah asif I'd want one anyway :wasntme:)
4. Made a plan - anything safety done first, then stuff that will get worse, then reliability, then nice to have done, then cosmetic.

Brakes and steering was done first - I wasn't going to drive it around until I knew that it was sound. Turns out that the swivel pins where totally knackered to the point where the whole wheel could move.. this was really really dangerous. I'm glad I sorted it early.

It is important for me to brake it down into manageable chunks of work so I don't get overwhelmed... Being able to drive it regularly also keeps me interested and ensures that the work actually gets done.. so it doesn't turn into an other back of the shed 'one day' projects.

The 120 is the best of the best as far as I'm concerned.. so keep at it. If it gets too hard, PM me and I'll take the pain away :D:angel:

Edit: Welcome to the forum RiverRat!

[riverrat]

Well the vehicle has sat for a while now and sadly has to be sold. Time to move on.

Along with it is a grub conversion kit with isuzu gearbox unfitted.

[land864]

Hey Riv

Where are you located?

[headswell]

I might be interested in the grub conversion kit if you want to sell it separately.

[land864]

Ignore that Riv. I see you are in FNQ

pete